PART 1
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Learning to Walk
These days the feet of a typical city dweller rarely encounter terrain any more uneven than a crack in the
pavement. While that may not seem like a problem, it turns out that by flattening our urban environment
we have put ourselves at risk of a surprising number of chronic illnesses and disabilities. Fortunately, the
commercial market has come to the rescue with a choice of products. Research into the idea that flat floors
could be detrimental to our health was pioneered back in the late 1960s in Long Beach, California.
Podiatrist Charles Brantingham and physiologist Bruce Beekman were concerned with the growing
epidemic of high blood pressure, varicose veins and deep-vein thromboses and reckoned they might be
linked to the uniformity of the surfaces that we tend to stand and walk on.
The trouble, they believed, was that walking continuously on flat floors, sidewalks and streets concentrates
forces on just a few areas of the foot. As a result, these surfaces are likely to be far more conducive to
chronic stress syndromes than natural surfaces, where the foot meets the ground in a wide variety of
orientations. They understood that the anatomy of the foot parallels that of the human hand - each having
26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments - and that modern lifestyles waste
all this potential flexibility.
Brantingham and Beekman became convinced that the damage could be rectified by making people
wobble. To test their ideas, they got 65 factory workers to try standing on a variable terrain floor - spongy
mats with varying degrees of resistance across the surface. This modest irregularity allowed the soles of the
volunteers' feet to deviate slightly from the horizontal each time they shifted position. As the researchers
hoped, this simple intervention made a huge difference, within a few weeks. Even if people were wobbling
slightly, it activated a host of muscles in their legs, which in turn helped pump blood back to their hearts.
The muscle action prevented the pooling of blood in their feet and legs, reducing the stress on the heart and
circulation. Yet decades later, the flooring of the world's largest workplaces remains relentlessly smooth.
Earlier this year, however, the idea was revived when other researchers in the US announced findings from
a similar experiment with people over 60. John Fisher and colleagues at the Oregon Research Institute in
Eugene designed a mat intended to replicate the effect of walking on cobblestones*.
In tests funded by the National Institute of Aging, they got some 50 adults to walk on the toots in their bare
feet for less than an hour, three times a week. After 16 weeks, these people showed marked improvements
in mobility, and even a significant reduction in blood pressure. People in a control group who walked on
ordinary floors also improved but not as dramatically. The mats are now available for purchase and
production is being scaled up. Even so, demand could exceed supply if this footstimulating activity really
is a 'useful nonpharmacological approach for preventing or controlling hypertension of older adults, as the
researchers believe. They are not alone in recognising the benefits of cobblestones. Reflexologists have
long advocated walking on textured surfaces to stimulate so-called 'acupoints' on the soles of the feet. They
believe that pressure applied to particular spots on the foot connects directly to particular organs of the
body and somehow enhances their function. In China, spas, apartment blocks and even factories promote
their cobblestone paths as healthful amenities. Fisher admits he got the concept from regular visits to the
country. Here, city dwellers take daily walks along cobbled paths for five or ten minutes, perhaps several
times a day, to improve their health. The idea is now taking off in Europe too.
People in Germany, Austria and Switzerland can now visit 'barefoot parks' and walk along 'paths of the
senses - with mud, logs, stone and moss underfoot. And it is not difficult to construct your own path with
simple everyday objects such as stones or bamboo poles. But if none of these solutions appeal, there is
another option. A new shoe on the market claims to transform flat, hard, artificial surfaces into something
like uneven ground. 'These shoes have an unbelievable effect,' says Benno Nigg, an exercise scientist at
Calgary University in Canada.
Known as the Masai Barefoot Technology, the shoes have rounded soles that cause you to rock slightly
when you stand still, exercising the small muscles around the ankle that are responsible for stability. Forces
in the joint are reduced, putting less strain on the system, Nigg claims.
Some of these options may not appeal to all consumers and there is a far simpler alternative.
If the urban environment is detrimental to our health, then it is obvious where we should turn. A weekend
or even a few hours spent in the countryside could help alleviate a sufferer's aches and pains, and would
require only the spending of time.
However, for many modern citizens, the countryside is not as accessible as it once was and is in fact a
dwindling resource. Our concrete cities are growing at a terrifying rate - perhaps at the same rate as our
health problems.
Questions 1-5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE. if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE. if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN. If there is no information on this
1. Brantingham and Beekman were the first researchers to investigate the relationship between health
problems and flat floors.
2. The subjects in Fisher's control group experienced a decline in their physical condition.
3. The manufacturers are increasing the number of cobblestone mats they are making.
4. Fisher based his ideas on what he saw during an overseas trip.
5. The Masai Barefoot Technology shoes are made to fit people of all ages.
Questions 6-8
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.
6. The writer suggests that Brantingham and Beekman's findings were
A ignored by big companies.
B doubted by other researchers.
C applicable to a narrow range of people.
D surprising to them.
7. What claim is made by the designers of the cobblestone mats"?
A They need to be used continuously in order to have a lasting effect.
B They would be as beneficial to younger people as to older peopl
C They could be an effective alternative to medical intervention.
D Their effects may vary depending on individual users.
8. Which of the following points does the writer make in the final paragraph?
A People should question new theories that scientists put forward.
B High prices do not necessarily equate to a quality product.
C People are setting up home in the country for health reasons.
D The natural environment is fast disappearing.
Questions 9-14
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-14 on your answer sheet.
In their research, Brantingham and Beekman looked at the complex physical of the foot and
noted that the surfaces of modem environments restrict its movement. They invented a mat which they
tried out on factory workers. Whenever the workers walked on it, the different levels of in
the mat would encourage greater muscle action. In turn, this lessened the effect of on the
cardiovascular system.
Similar research was undertaken by John Fisher and colleagues in Oregon. As a result of their findings,
they decided to market cobblestone mats to the elderly as a means of dealing with .
Reflexologists claim that by manipulating specific parts of the feet, the performance of
certain will also improve. Finally, Benno Nigg at Calgary University believes that specially
shaped on shoes should give health benefits.
PART 2
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-27, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Australian artist Margaret Preston
Margaret Preston's vibrant paintings and prints of Australian flowers, animals and landscapes have
delighted the Australian public since the early 1920s.
Margaret Preston was born Margaret Rose McPherson in Port Adelaide, South Australia in 1875, the
daughter of David McPherson, a Scottish marine engineer and his wife Prudence Lyle. She and her sister
were sent at first to a private school, but when family circumstances changed, her mother took the girls to
Sydney where Margaret attended a public high school. She decided early in life to become an artist and
took private art lessons. In 1888, she trained for several months with Sydney landscape painter William
Lister, and in 1893 enrolled at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, where she studied for just over
four years.
In 1898, after her father died, Margaret returned to Adelaide to study and then teach at the Adelaide School
of Design. Her early artwork was influenced by the German aesthetic tradition, in which subjects of the
natural world were depicted in a true to life manner.
Margaret's first visit to Europe in 1904, and her studies in Paris, France had little impact on this naturalism
that dominated her work from this early period. However some eight years later, after returning to Paris,
she began to recognise the decorative possibilities of art.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Margaret traveled to England, where she had exhibitions and
continued her studies of art. She was a student of pottery, but at some time developed her interest in
various techniques of printmaking and design. In England's West Country, she taught basket weaving at a
rehabilitation unit for servicemen. It was on board a boat returning to Australia that she met wealthy
businessman William Preston, whom she married in 1919. Together Margaret and William settled in the
Sydney harbourside suburb of Mosman. The most characteristic prints from her early years in Sydney are
views of boats floating on Sydney Harbour and of houses clustered on foreshore hills. Although Sydney
was their home, the couple traveled regularly, both overseas and within Australia.
Her first major showing in Australia was with her friend Thea Proctor, in exhibitions in Melbourne and
Sydney in 1925. Many of Preston's prints were hand-coloured in rich scarlet reds, blues and greens, and all
of them were set in Chinese red lacquer frames. Harbour views were again prominent, but in comparison
with earlier artworks, they were compact and busy. using striking contrasts of black and white combined
with elaborate patterns and repetitions. Other prints from this period featured native flora. It was with these
still-life subjects that she convinced the public that Australian native flowers were equal in beauty to any
exotic species.
From 1932 to 1939, Preston moved away from Sydney and lived with her husband at Berowra, on the
upper reaches of the Hawkesbury River. The area was one of rugged natural beauty, and for the first time
Preston found herself living in a home surrounded bush. Prior to this, the native flowers that featured in her
paintings and prints had been purchased from local florists; they now grew in abundance around her home.
Preston's prints became larger, less complex and less reliant on the use of bright colours. Flowers were no
longer arranged in vases, and Preston began to concentrate instead on flowers that were growing wild.
While living at Berowra, and undoubtedly prompted by the Aboriginal' rock engravings found near her
property, Preston also developed what was to he a lifelong interest in Aboriginal art. On returning to
Sydney in 1939, she became a member of the Anthropological Society of New South Wales, and later
visited many important Aboriginal sites throughout Australia. Preston believed that Aboriginal art provided
the key to establishing a national body of art that reflected the vast and ancient continent of Australia.
During the 1940s, symbols used by Aboriginal people, together with dried, burnt colours found in
traditional Aboriginal paintings, became increasingly prominent in her prints. The artist's titles from this
period frequently acknowledge her sources, and reveal the extent to which she drew inspiration from
traditional Aboriginal art to create her own art.
It was in 1953, at the age of 78, that Preston produced her most significant prints. The exhibition at
Macquarie Galleries in Sydney included 29 prints made using the ancient technique known as stenciling.
Many of the artworks in the exhibition incorporated her fusion of Aboriginal and Chinese concepts.
Preston had admired Chinese art since 1915, when she acquired the first of her many books on the subject,
and she had visited China on two occasions. Chinese elements may be found in several of her earlier
paintings.
However, in her prints of the 1950s, Preston combined Chinese ideas with her understanding of the
Dreamtime' creation stories of Aboriginal Australians. Preston did not let age alter her habit of working
hard. As she got older, her love of painting, printmaking and travel continued. By the time of her death in
1963, when she was 88, she had produced over 400 paintings and prints. In a career spanning almost 60
years, she created a body of work that demonstrates her extraordinary originality and the intensity of her
commitment to Australian art.
Questions 15-21
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes 15-21 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE. if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE. if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN. If there is no information on this
15. Artists in the German aesthetic tradition portrayed nature realistically.
16. Margaret attended a famous art college in Paris.
17. Margaret met her husband William while teaching a craft at a rehabilitation unit.
18. Margaret Preston and Thea Proctor explored similar themes in their art.
19. Margaret's 1925 artworks of Sydney Harbour were simpler than her previous ones.
20. The colours in Margaret's Berowra prints were very bright.
21. When living in Berowra, Margaret painted flowers in their natural location.
Questions 22-27
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 22-27 on your answer sheet.
Margaret Preston's later life
Aboriginal influence
interest in Aboriginal art was inspired by seeing rock engravings close to her Berowra home
incorporated and colours from Aboriginal art in her own work often referred to
Aboriginal sources in the she gave her artworks
1953 exhibition
very old method of was used for some prints
was inspired by about Chinese art that she had started collecting in 1915
combination of Chinese and Aboriginal elements
Old age
still interested in and art
worked for nearly six decades making more than artworks
dedicated to Australian art and the originality of her work is seen in Preston's long career
PART 3
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Mind Music
Scientists investigate 'earworms', the music we can't get out of our head
A Ever had a song stuck in your head, playing on an endless loop? Scientists call them
'involuntary musical images', or 'earworms, and a wave of new research is shining light on why they occur
and what can be learned from them. Some neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists are studying
earworms to explore the mysteries of memory and the part of the brain that is beyond our conscious
control. The idea that we have full control over our thought processes is an illusion,' says psychologist
Lauren Stewart, who founded the master's program in music, mind and brain at Goldsmiths, University of
London, UK, where recent research has taken place. Researchers haven't been able to watch what happens
in the brain when earworms occur, because they happen unpredictably. Much of what is known about them
comes from surveys, questionnaires, diaries and lab experiments.
B A Goldsmiths study published in the journal Memory and Cognition this year showed that the singing
we hear in our heads tends to be true to actual recordings. Researchers had 17 volunteers tap to the beat of
any earworm they heard during a four-day period while a device attached to their wrist recorded their
movements. The tapping tempos were within 10% of the tempos of the original recordings. Another
Goldsmiths study, published this year in Consciousness and Cognition, found that people who report
hearing earworms often, and find them most intrusive, have slightly different brain structures, with more
gray matter in areas associated with processing emotions.
C Studies also show that the music in our heads often starts playing during times of 'low cognitive load',
such as while showering, getting dressed, walking, or doing chores. Dr Stewart likens earworms to 'sonic
screen savers' that keep the mind entertained while it is otherwise unoccupied. She and her colleagues
tested that theory by having volunteers listen to songs and giving them various tasks afterwards. The
volunteers who sat idly for the next five minutes were the most likely to report hearing the music m their
heads. Dr Stewart observed that the more challenging the activity, the less likely the volunteers were to
hear the music. Diary studies also show songs tend to match people's moods and therefore they are not
random. If you are energized and upbeat, an earworm that occurs is likely to be uptempo too.
D Songs the brain fixates on are usually those it has been exposed to recently, surveys show, which is why
tunes getting heavy radio play frequently top the earworm charts. Even tunes you may have heard but
didn't pay attention to can worm their way into your subconscious, says Ira Hyman, a psychologist at
Western Washington University in Bellingham, USA. In an unpublished study there, participants who
listened to music while doing other tasks were more likely to report that the songs returned as earworms
later on, compared with participants who simply listened.
E Some earworms are just fragments of a song that repeat like a broken record. So, when the mind hits a
part of a song it can't remember, it loops back rather than moving on. That could make an earworm even
more entrenched, Dr Hyman says. According to a theory known as the Zeigarik effect, named for a Soviet
psychologist, Bluma Zeigarnik, unfinished thoughts and activities weigh on the mind more heavily than
those that are completed, although experiments exposing students to interrupted songs have yielded mixed
results.
F Researchers say they can't pinpoint a spot in the brain where earworms live. Imaging studies by Andrea
Halpern at Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, USA, have shown that deliberately imagining music and
actually listening to music activate many of the same neurological networks. Dr Halpern's earlier studies
showed that when subjects listened to the first few notes of familiar music, areas in the right frontal and
superior temporal portions of the brain became activated, along with the supplementary motor area at the
top, which is typically involved in remembering sequences. When the same subjects listened to unfamiliar
music and were asked to recall it, there was activity in the left frontal portions of the brain instead.
G One factor that makes some songs stick might be repetition. 'Repetition leads to familiarity which leads
to anticipation, which is satisfied by hearing the song,' says John Seabrook, author of The Song Machine:
Inside the Hit Factory, about how producers pump pop songs full of aural "hooks', the punchy melodic
phrases designed to target the brain and leave it wanting more. The researchers are comparing the melodic
structure of 100 often-mentioned songs with 100 similarly popular songs that weren't cited as earworms, to
assess the difference. Songs with earworm potential appear to share certain features: a repeating pattern of
ups and downs in pitch, and an irregular musical interval.
H The researchers plan next to test their results in reverse, and play ringtones from songs of both the
earworm and non earworm variety for volunteers several times a day to see which ones get stuck. Drs
Stewart and Halper are now working together to recruit survey participants for a study looking at whether
people at different stages of life experience earworms differently. 'You can argue that older people might
get them more often because they know more songs,' Dr Halpern says. 'But the few responses we have so
far indicate that they have earworms less often. It could be that they don't play music as often as younger
people do.
Questions 28-31
The reading Passage has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 28-31 on your answer sheet.
28. a description of the characteristics common to songs with earworms
29. a justitication for research into earworms
30. a description of the brain's reaction to known and unknown songs
31. details of proposed research into the frequency with which earworms occur indifferent age groups
Questions 32-35
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet.
Researchers from Goldsmiths concluded that the music we imagine in our minds is quite similar to
recordings. They proved this by asking volunteers to record the rhythm of music using a monitor on
their . Further research has demonstrated that those who hear earworms more frequently have
brains that may deal with differently from other people, Dr Stewart also believes that the
brain is by earworms when it is not focused on a task. In fact, a reduction in the occurrence
of earworms was found to be directly related to how the task was Interestingly, volunteers'
diaries revealed that the songs they heard inside their head reflected their moods, so the choice of music is
not accidental.
Questions 36-40
Look at the following statements and the list of researcher below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter. A, B, C or D, in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
36. Some musicians create music that is intentionally memorable.
37. People are unable to completely regulate how they think.
38. We can remember songs without knowing that we have heard them.
39. Thinking about music has a similar effect on the brain to hearing music.
40. Earworms are more persistent when only a short section of the song is constantly replayed.
List of Researchers
A. Lauren Stewart
B. Ira Hyman
C. Andrea Haiper
D. John Seabrook
