READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 on pages 2 and 3

Computer games
The early days of the video game business

It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game. In the age of computers, that statement
takes on new meanings: video game cannot ever really be defeated because, no matter how high the
score, It is always the human who tires first or makes the fatal error. But millions of people continue to
play, because microelectronic technology has enabled game designers to conveniently and
inexpensively transform plain screens into playfields of extraordinary capability. At the same time, a
multi-billion dollar industry has grown from very humble beginnings in just a few decades.

game can b
The technological roots of video game can be traced back to 1962, when an MIT (Massachusetts Institute
of Technology) graduate student demonstrated Spacewar, a science-fiction fantasy game played on a
mainframe computer and a large screen. That game. immediately attracted a wide cult following
among computer buffs. The next important step came in 1968, when a console was developed that
could be used to play game on ordinary televisions. But it was not until the early 1970s that a young
University of Utah engine to the point that adaptation of Spacewar from a large computer into coin-
operated from, for use in video game arcades, was becoming economically feasible. Bushnell and his
associates began working on such a machine in a converted bedroom workshop, but were
unsuccessful. What they ultimately developed instead was a simple tennis-like game that they
named Pong.

Pong took the industry by storm and quickly became the first coin-operated video-game Hit. And soon
thereafter commercial Pong - style home video games also appeared. Yet despite early enthusiasm,
consumer interest in this area proved leas sustained than had been anticipated and, as prices started to
drop and losses mounted, most of the early manufacturers withdew from the field. Profits proved to be
just as elusive at Bushnell's company, Atari, where a rapidly growing market presence in coin-
operated machine and home video required greater injections of capital and more professional
management than the company was able to provide. In 1976, the founders of Atari sold their
share of the company for a sum that was only equivalent to their sales in that year.

At that point, coin-operated video games seemed just another passing fad. But the introduction of
Space Invaders-an arcade model produced by Japanese manufacture Taito-proved otherwise. With
its vibrant graphics it was so different from the previous black and white games that Space Invaders
immediately captured public interest. There soon followed a rush of popular video that employed the
same or better hardware and even more imaginative software. Of these, Pac-Man (in 1908) was
especially significant, because now females began to take an interest.
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By this time, the same software improvement and technological advances (faster
microprocessors and larger memories) that permitted designers to produce spectacular audio
and visual effects for coin-operated machines were also being applied to home video units. It
was thus only a short while before the programmable consoles that had been unpopular
for lack of software suddenly began to sell in large numbers: consumers had discovered that
they could finally play a reasonable version of their favorite arcade games in the comfort of their
own home. The impact on Atari was astounding. Unprofitable for the first three years, Atari had
by the end of 1979, become a success. By either self-designing or licensing the most popular
arcade concepts for cartridge format for use at home, the company had captured some 80
percent of the worldwide market for home video games.

All of this, however, was too good to last. By late 1982, the publics fascination with arcade
games had begun to low down, and fewer potential best-sellers were becoming available for
conversion to cartridges that could be used on an Atari machine. At the same time, the market
was flooded with illegal software of all types. It was thus not until the late 1980s that the
unstructured nature of the industry, at least on the software side, had stabilized and become
restructured in a manner similar, in many respects, to the book publishing business.

Until 1986, when japan-based Nintendo introduced a more technologically sophisticated

and user-friendly game console, the hardware side was also in disarray. But with tight control of
software development and marketing, Nintendo was able to revive and then capture up to 80
percent of a once-again booming market in which no significant competition appeared until the
early 1990s. By that point, the annual operating profits of Nintendo had already grown to
over $1 billion-an amount exceeding the 1991 profits of all the major Hollywood film
studios combined. In 1999, sales of game hardware and software, led by Playstation,
were equal in size (around
Ved by Playstation,
were s7 billion) to US domestic box-office revenues.

With change the only constant, the game industry has moved on to become what it is today.
However, no matter what the technology or the format, the essence of a successful game will
always be the same: it is simple to understand and to play on an elementary level, but it is
compulsive and maddeningly diffcult- in fact, forever impossible-to master fully.
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Questions 1-6

Complete the notes below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write
your answers in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

A history of video games

1960s

1970s
Spacewar was first played on a computer and special screen.

Advances in technology led to cheaper 1

and the possibility of coin-

operated video games.REAL

The first successful coin-operated video game was 2
................... was bought from its original owners.
• Space Invaders was successful because of its colourful 4......

1980s

1990s

TS
 Pac-Man was the first game to attract 5............

At first one company dominated the market.

By the end of the decade. 6................ had become the biggest selling home.
entertainment product.

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Questions 7-13

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes
7-13 on your answer sheet. Write

if the statement agrees with the information

if the statement contradicts the information
TRUE

FALSE

NOT GIVEN
if there is no information on this
7
∞

a
8
Spacewar was unpopular at first.
Bushnell and his team failed to create a coin-operated version of Spacewar.
9 From the beginning the home video game market has been commercially
successful.

10
Atan was successful for the first time in 1979.

11
Video arcade game usage continued strongly in the 1980s.
12

13
The time taken to produce a video game can be compared to producing a book.

The qualities needed for a video game to become successful have been.
researched thoroughly.

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READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2
on pages 6 and 7

Art and engineering

B
C

D
Work of engineering and technology are sometime viewed as having nothing to do with art and
humanity. Think of the connotation of assembly lines, robots and computer. The positive values
associated with these creation can be overwhelmed by the negative associations of repetitive,
stressful work and threatened jobs. Critics of technology protest against what they see as the
same time, megastructures such as the Brooklyn and Golden Gate Bridges in the US are hailed
as majestic human achievements, as well as great engineering monuments that have come to
embody the spirit of their respective cities. The relationship between art and engineering has
seldom been easy or consistent.

Arguably, the assembly line process associated with Henry Ford made workers tools of
the system. The human worker may have appeared to be only a cog in the wheel of industry, yet
photographers such as Lewis Hine revealed the beauty of line and composition in his study of a
worker using a wrench to turn a bolt. Hine focused on the individuals engaged in the work. In the
period around World War I, he visited New York and was given the opportunity to record the
construction of the famous Empire State Building, the tallest building of its time. This resulted in a
series of striking photographs which have become familiar images of daring. Hine put his
own life at risk to photograph workers suspended on cables hundreds of feet in the air, or sitting
on a high girder eating lunch.

When Ford's enormous River Rouge plant opened in 1927, the painter/photographer Charles
Sheeler was chosen to photograph it. The world's largest car plant captured the
imagination of Sheeler, who described it as the most thrilling subject he had ever had to
work with..

Long before Hine and Sheeler, other photographers and painters had seen the art and humanity in works
of engineering and technology. This is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the Coalbrookdale
Museum of Iron, at Ironbridge in Shropshire in the UK. In the late 18th century, Abraham Darby
cast the large iron ribs that formed the world's first iron bridge, a dramatic departure from the
classic stone and timber bridges that dotted the countryside and had been captured in
numerous landscape paintings. This structure still spans the River Severn, and the
Coalbrookdale Museum is crowded with its portraits, showing the iron structure not as a blight on
the landscape, but as its focal point. This is how Michael Rooker shows the iron bridge in
his late 18th-century painting, in which the surrounding area radiates out from the

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E
LL
F

G
bridge and pales behind it. Countless other contemporary representations of the
bridge hang in the nearby museum.
In the 19th century, the railways were another feat of engineering which captured the imagination
of painters, and the steam engine in the distance of a landscape became as much a part of it as
the herd of cows in the foreground. The Impressionist
Claude Monet painted railway stations - such as the Gare St-Lazare in Parin - as well as flower
and gardens. By the 20th century, engineenng. technology and industry were very well
established as subjects for artists.

American-born artist Joseph Pennell portrayed buildings under construction and shrouded in
scaffolding, and recorded scenes of industry during World War I. He is perhaps best known for
his prints of the Panama Canal as it neared completion and of the partially completed Hell Gate
and Delaware River Bridges. Pennell has often been quoted as saying, "Great engineering is
great art', a sentiment that he expressed repeatedly. He wrote of his contemporaries: I
understand nothing of engineering, but I know that engineers are the greatest architects
and the most pictorial builders since the (ancient) Greeks. Pennell called the sensation that he
felt.

when he looked at a great construction project "the Wonder of Work". He saw engineering as
a process memorialized in every completed dam, skyscraper, bridge or other great
engineering feat.

Today, one of the most innovative and influential engineers is Santiago Calatrava, who also
trained as an architect. His bridges and other structures provide public spaces on a human
scale, and stand as pieces of sculpture in their own right. Increasingly, commissioners of
bridges in the US are looking to such individuals, to teams of engineers and architects who
work with artists. The growing awareness of the intangible added value of art is sure to give
us more masterpieces like the Brooklyn Bridge. They in turn will continue to be noble
monuments to civilization,
and will be welcome subjects for artists of all kinds.
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Questions 14-19

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G

Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any fetter more than once.

14
a time when a transport system became an inspiration for artists
15

16

17

18

19
a reference to the current trend of including artists in engineering projects reasons for
the idea that art and engineering are difficult to combine how the depiction of human
labour involved danger to an artist
a reference to an artist who celebrated a number of unfinished structures

a reference to two large engineering works that are symbols of their locations
Questions 20-22

REAL
Look at the following statements (Questions 20-22) and the list of people below. Match
each statement with the correct person, A-G
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 20-22 on your answer sheet.
20
His engineering constructions are also regarded as works of art.
21

22
He created images of builders constructing an conic American skyscraper. He
painted a building connected with a significant innovation in transport.

A
B
C
 D
E
F
G
List of People
Lewis Hine

Charles Sheeler

Abraham Darby Michael

Rooker

096
 Cla
MS
net 926
Claude Monet Joseph Pennell Santiago Calatrava

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Questions 23-26

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. White
your answers in boxes 23-28 on your answer sheet.

The iron bridge

Before the late 18th century. bridges were traditionally constructed of wood
Then the engineer 24
and 23

innovative bridge across the 25

manufactured the elements of an
 This iron bridge was the subject of a
While some may have
number of artworks, including a notable one by 26.....
viewed it as ugly. artists regarded the bridge as a central feature of the landscape.

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READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based Reading Passage 3 on
pages 10 and 11

Charles Darwin, the brilliant anthropologist and creator of the theory of evolution, is not normally
associated with the modern business world. Nevertheless, Darwinian evolutionary theory is the foundation of a
new wave of ideas about human behavior in general and particularly the way people behave in the
workplace; these ideas have given the title of evolutionary psychology' Evolutionary psychology revolves around
the notion that our brains, like our bodies, have an inherited evolutionary design that has scarcely
changed for 10,000 years, As respected evolutionary psychology experts Leda Cosmides and John Tooby
comment, our modern skulls house a Stone Age mind. The US biologist Edward O Wilson sees evolutionary
psychology as being a discipline which is based on both socio-biology, which is the study of the biological
basis of social behavior, and psychology, which is the systematic study of human behavior.

Nigel Nicholson, an organisational psychologist from the London Business School, is a strong supporter
of evolutionary psychology and on this subject has published Managing the Human. Animal. His book takes
the reader on a journey from the Stonc Age plains of the savannah to the modern office, and includes a
discussion of Darwinism and behavioural psychology together with a dissection of dysfunctional
organisational behavior. It is an effective approach explaining why people behave as they do, particularly
at work. Evolutionary psychology is increasingly being cited in management circles, where managers are
trying to understand puzzling aspects of human behaviour and by doing so improve the workplace. Nicholson
believes that evolutionary psychology can help managers understand what goes wrong in organisational life
and what they can do about it.

Nicholson maintains that evolutionary psychology dismisses the long-held assumption that our minds are
like blank pages just waiting for culture and experience to write on them and shape our nature. He points out that
sophisticated research shows the brain actually houses a store of knowledge when we are born, and now
genetic research is establishing there are certain genes that account for abilities, tastes and tendencies. The
stored knowledge in the human brain has not changed much since the Stone Age. As Tooby and Cosmides
stress, there have not been enough generations for a brain that is well adapted to our post-industrial life
to evolve through natural
selection.

The evolutionary psychology version of human nature revolves around some key elements which we have inherited
from our hunter-gatherer minds. One key element is emotion. Emotion was originally

essential to keep early man alive and safe from predators. Emotion was, and continues to be our radar, guiding us
throughout today's techno-defined business world. Despite this, the business world emphasises rational
not emotional behaviour, and does not admit the importance of emotion. We still use the emotional part of
our minds to make sense other people's behaviour and to create an impression, so we can often be taken in by
appearances. This mental predisposition actually works best in small communities (the tribe), not in much
larger environments filled with people we barely
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know (the modern workplace). Our minds naturally try to re-create our ancestral communities with networks of no
more than 150 people, where there are

clear hierarchies and leaders. As a consequence, it takes very little to trigger

people's innate distrust of others because our safety in antiquity depended on supporting
our near family and friends whom we valued more than other people.

So what advice does Nicholson have for the corporate world? He thinks that by knowing the
reasons for people's behaviour it is possible to mould corporate environments into places that
have more chance of working efficiently and being pleasant places to work in. Nicholson
admits that not everybody in the business word agrees with his belief in the effectiveness
of evolutionary psychology in the workplace. One group that resist the theory of evolutionary
psychology is young MBA graduates who are just beginning their careers and feel that
evolutionary psychology will make their lives at work more difficult. Older and wiser
executives points out that they still tend to cling to the idea of a magic formula to bring people
into line with corporate strategy. But that is back-to-front thinking according to
Nicholson, who contends that we should be reinventing our business structures.
not our fundamental human nature.

At the end of his book, Nicholson gives his forecast of what will and will not change in the
business world. He believes that most people will still prefer more traditional forms of work
and throughout their lives will continue to aim at lifelong status advancement. He also maintains that
the line between work and home will be less

defined, but that people will prefer traditional working patterns if working from home
leaves them isolated from their work community. He doubts that the high- tech ideas of
virtual companies will ever be very successful because people will still want to meet each
other face-to-face. Nicholson describes his ideal organisation in the future: it would be
decentralized, with small sub-units: the staff would be from diverse backgrounds and be
allowed a high degree of self-determination. New endeavours and creativity would
replace systems and rationality. Nicholson. acknowledges that there is a long way to go
in terms of the translation of his ideas of evolutionary psychology into practical
propositions, but he is confident more and more people will come round to his way of thinking.
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Questions 27-31

Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D

write the correct letter boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.

27

A
The writers purpose in the first paragraph is to
oppose the views of Charkes Darwin.
B
compare experts'opinions of Darwin's theory.
C
explain the theory of evolutionary psychology.
D
name experts in the field of evolutionary psychology.

28
In the third paragraph which view about evolutionary psychology matches.
nicholson's opinion?

29

30
31
A
Our characters determine our career choices.

B
We begin life without any preconceived notions.
C
Our interests and skills depend on our environment.
D
We inherit ideas and characteristics from our ancestors.

The writer discusses the key element of emotion in order to

A
criticise primitive survival strategies.
B
explain attitudes and actions at work.
C
demonstrate the slowness of evolution.
D
suggest companies today are poorly structured.

wing does Nicholson predict will

happ
Which of the following does Nicholson predict will happen in the business.
worid?

A
Companies will remain in city centres.
B
Promotion will no longer motivate people.
C
Employees will be less independent than now.
D
Social interaction will remain important to workers.

Which of the following is the most suitable title for Reading Passage 3? How
successful companies manage change. Understanding the origins of
workplace behavior. Darwin's theories rejected by modern management.
A

C
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D
Why post-industrial organisations need to evolve more quickly.

Questions 32-35

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet, write
YES

NO

NOT GIVEN

32

33

34

35
if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
if the statement contradicts the views of the writer

if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

Nicholson makes a persuasive argument in his book.

Tooby and Cosmides believe natural selection through the generations has
prepared.

Our reliance on technology causes emotional problems in the workplace. People

today are more trusting than they used to be.

Questions 36-40

Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I below.

Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.

Nicholson's advice to the corporate world

Nicholson believes that if we know why people act the way they do, we can. change
36
so employees will work more efficiently. Nicholson's ideas are
unwelcome to 37..............but some executives are more open to what evolutionary
psychology says. However, these executives still believe that there is a 38.... that will
make employees act according to the company's practices. According to Nicholson, these
senior executives are engaging in 3.................. we should not
and

try to change 40
but instead we should change our business structures.

A business leaders
B MBA graduates
D
reward strategy
E

G back-to-front thinking
H
C promotion structures magic formula F strategic planning
business environments I human nature

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 REAL

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