ADVANCED READINGS

Archeologists   Archeologists are scientists who study the remains of past civilizations.  They reconstruct the past by gathering clues.  Bones are one kind of clue.  Artifacts and fossils are other clues.  Artifacts are objects from the past, usually made by people.   Fossils are impressions or remains of animals and plants that have turned to stone.  Archeologists begin to collect evidence at a spot where people might have lived and worked.  Scientists begin to clear away layers of earth to find signs of human civilization.  Archeologists call this spot a site, or dig.   Archeologists remove each layer by hand, using many kinds of tools, from shovels to dentist instruments.  They work very slowly because they do not want to damage the delicate artifacts and fossils buried in the soil.  Workers sift the dirt and rubble through a sieve.  They look for things like bits of pottery, tools, seeds, weapons, and bones.   Archeologists record the exact location of every item they find.  Then they use high-tech equipment to determine the age of each item.  Archeologists must know as much as possible to identify artifacts.

Answer the questions below

are the impressions or remains of animals and plants that have turned to stone.

Bones, fossils, and are clues used by archeologists.

Objects from the past, usually made by people are called .

The or dig, is the spot where archeologists begin to collect evidence.

A is used to sift sand and rubble.

Archeologists reconstruct the past by gathering .

This passage says archeologists search for pottery, tools, seeds, weapons, and .

The type of equipment used to determine the age of an item is

a sieve. a camera. high-tech.

Life on a Glacier   Is there life on a glacier?  Of course there is!   The surface of a glacier is a jumble of rock and dirty snow which has been folded and contorted by stress. If you look at it up close it looks like a barren wasteland.  What could possibly live there?     The wind is responsible for bringing life to the glacier.  As wind moves over land, it gathers bits of dust and debris.  When the wind sweeps over the glacier it deposits part of the load.  Tiny insects such as spiders, beetles, and flies, grains of pollen from flowers, and minerals are mixed in with the dust.  As these are spread over the snow and ice, they become a feast for tiny creatures such as the snow flea.  The snow flea is a tiny insect that crawls around on the glacier in search of pollen.   Another creature which exists on a glacier is the ice worm. It is a relative of the earthworm, but less than an inch long. It lives hidden in the cold glacial ice.  Ice worms wriggle between ice crystals near the glacier's surface, but sometimes can be found as deep as six feet.  Ice worms burrow into the glacier's ice during the heat of the day and inch to the surface around dusk to feed.  They depend mainly on the wind to bring their dinner of pollen and other plant materials.     Ice worms can survive only under certain conditions.  Temperatures around freezing (32 degrees F.) are perfect.  If they get caught in the sun's heat where it is warmer than 40 degrees F., they will die.  When the ice around them freezes solid and becomes colder than 22 degrees F., their bodies freeze.  Therefore, ice worms are found only in glaciers near the ocean, or where the climate is warm enough for melt water to be in the ice at all times.   A special algae that grows on the surface of the snow provides food for the ice worm.  Snow alga is a type of green alga.  Its color is red, which provides a screen against the bright rays of the sun.     Birds flying over a glacier feed on ice worms and insects, plucking them from the ice.  Other animals use glaciers as a temporary home and a resting place.

Answer the questions below

The main idea of this passage is:

Ice worms are found only in glaciers near the oceans. Many forms of life exist on a glacier. A glacier is a temporary home for animals.

The is responsible for bringing life to a glacier.

The ice worm is a relative of the .

A snow flea feeds on deposited by the wind.

Ice worms are found only in glaciers near the , or where the climate is warm enough for melt water to be in the ice at all times.

An ice worm can be found six beneath the surface of a glacier.

pluck ice worms from the ice.

Perfect conditions for an ice worm's survival is

22 degrees F. 32 degrees C. 32 degrees F.

Snow alga is

red in color. green in color. colorless.

Some animals use a glacier as a home.

source:myschoolhouse

ADVANCED READINGS

TAKE A TOUR


MY GRANDMOTHER


LEARNING A LANGUAGE


READING 4

Cheating and Plagiarism

Students are responsible for familiarising themselves with the University Code of Student Conduct, as on enrollment with the University  the student has placed themselves under the policies and regulations of the University and all of its duly constituted bodies. Disciplinary authority is exercised through the Student Conduct Committee. The Committee has procedures in place for hearing allegations of misconduct. Copies of the student conduct code are available at the Student Services Office.

Academic dishonesty is never condoned by the University. This includes cheating and plagiarism, which violate the Student Conduct Code and could result in expulsion or failing the course.

Cheating includes but is not limited to obtaining or giving unauthorized help during an examination, getting unauthorized information about the contents of an examination before it is administered, using unauthorised sources of information during an examination, altering or falsifying the record of any grades, altering or supplying answers after an examination has been handed in, falsifying any official University record, and misrepresenting the facts to get exemptions from or extensions to course requirements.

Plagiarism includes but is not limited to submitting any paper or other document, to satisfy an academic requirement, which has been copied either in whole or in part from someone else’s work without identifying that person; failing to identify as a quotation a documented idea that has not been thoroughly assimilated into the student's language and style, or paraphrasing a passage so closely that the reader could be misled as to the source; submitting the same written or oral material in different courses without obtaining authorisation from the lecturers involved; or 'dry-labbing', which includes obtaining and using experimental data from fellow students without the express consent of the lecturer, utilizing experimental data and laboratory write-ups from other parts of the course or from previous terms during which the course was conducted, and fabricating data to fit the expected results.

Questions

Q1 - The Student Services Office familiarises students with the student code.

True
False
Not given

Q2 - Cheats will automatically be expelled because their behaviour cannot be condoned.

True
False
Not given

Q3 - The text lists all activities that are considered to be cheating.

True
False
Not given

Q4 - According to the text, cheating is a more serious offence than plagiarism.

True
False
Not given

Q5 - It is never acceptable to paraphrase closely.

True
False
Not given

Q6 - Students can submit the same work in different courses as long as they ask their lecturer and it is not their own.

True
False
Not given

Q7 - If students want to use other students' laboratory data, they must ask them and the lecturer first.

True
False
Not given

Q8 - Data must fit the expected results.

True
False
Not given

 

 

FRIED

 

DREAMS

 

MUSEUM HOURS

ADVANCED

READING

Read the article and tick (ü) A, B, or C.

A STUDY OF MULTITASKING

Technology increasingly makes it possible for people to do more than one task at a time, for example moving between browsing the Web and using other computer programs, talking on mobile phones while driving, or flying a jet and monitoring air traffic. Indeed, the word describing this – ‘multitasking’ – has gone from being invented to being commonly used in everyday life in a remarkably short time. A recent study has looked at whether multitasking is purely beneficial or has its downside, especially when the tasks being done together are complicated ones.

The researchers concluded that when people are multitasking, they are using what they call ‘executive control’ processes. These processes concern different parts of the brain and involve the brain allocating different mental resources to different tasks and deciding which tasks are more important than others. The brain’s executive control gives the appropriate resources to the different aspects of tasks, such as understanding what the task requires, thinking about what to do, and taking action.

The researchers conducted an experiment into how much time was lost when people repeatedly switched between two tasks. The tasks varied in terms of how complex they were and how familiar the subjects were with doing those tasks, and they included such things as solving mathematical problems and classifying geometric objects. The researchers measured how long it took the subjects to carry out the tasks and considered the speed in connection with whether the tasks were familiar or unfamiliar, and whether the rules for doing them were simple or complicated.

The results of the experiments were the same for every kind of task. In each case, the subjects lost time when they moved from one task to another, and the amount of time they lost increased when the tasks were complex or unfamiliar. When they were familiar with a task, they were able to adapt to changing to it and get on with it much more quickly. The researchers say that these results indicate that the brain’s executive control consists of two separate stages. They called the first stage ‘goal shifting’, meaning a preference to do one of the tasks rather than the other at a particular moment. The second stage they named ‘rule activation’, meaning moving from engaging with the rules associated with how to go about one task to engaging with the rules involved in doing the other task. The second stage, rule activation, takes a significant amount of time, and this delay multiplies when people keep switching between tasks. The result is that quite a lot of time is lost when multitasking, in comparison with the time that would be taken if each task was completed separately.

This has major implications for multitasking, suggesting that although people may think that it saves time without affecting efficiency, in reality it actually takes more time, and this may have an adverse effect on efficiency. In the case of someone using a mobile phone while driving, multitasking could mean that they are not in full control of their vehicle during the short period when they are switching to using the phone.

The researchers feel that their research has important consequences for multitasking. Their conclusions regarding executive control and how it works may, they believe, help people to look for strategies that will enable them to operate in the most efficient way possible when they are multitasking. And an understanding of executive mental control could have an impact on the design of the technology involved in such areas as operating aircraft and air traffic control, as well as other activities where the interface between humans and computers is crucial to efficiency.

In addition, there are other possible applications of this research. Understanding how people function while multitasking could assist with recruitment, training and assessment of personnel in the workplace. It could also have an influence on government and industrial regulations, assist in the diagnosis and treatment of brain-damaged patients, and increase our general understanding of how the brain works.

1   What does the writer suggest about the word ‘multitasking’?

    A  It has changed in meaning since it was invented.      

    B  It is not always used appropriately.      

    C  Its increased use reflects a change in everyday life.         

2   The aim of the research was to ________.

    A  compare the advantages and disadvantages of multitasking      

    B  discover why multitasking is regarded a wholly good thing      

   C  find out if there are any negative effects of multitasking       

  

3   The researchers use the term ‘executive control’ to describe how the brain ________.

     A  controls some actions more than others      

     B  organizes how different tasks are carried out      

     C  distinguishes between easier and harder tasks   

      

4   What do we learn about the experiment?

     A  The researchers knew that some of the subjects had done similar tasks before.        

     B  Not all of the subjects did the same tasks.      

    C  The subjects started with simple tasks and move on to more complicated ones.     

    

5   Which of the following happened during the experiment?

     A  Sometimes little time was lost moving from one task to another.      

     B  Some subjects always found it hard to move from one task to another.      

    C  Complex tasks presented more problems than unfamiliar tasks.       

  

6   One of the two stages of the brain’s executive control ________.

     A  leads to a major disadvantage of multitasking      

     B  takes longer for some people than for others      

     C  has no connection with multitasking  

       

7   One of the implications of the research is that ________.

      A  some people are not suited to multitasking      

      B  multitasking always results in less efficiency      

      C  a common attitude to multitasking is wrong     

    

8   The researchers believe that their research might ________.

    A  encourage people not to do multitasking in some situations      

    B  affect the way that people approach multitasking      

    C  result in technology replacing people for certain tasks  

       

9   In the final paragraph, the writer says that multitasking is something that ________.

     A  is likely to increase in the future      

     B  people in authority have paid too little attention to      

    C  is relevant in many areas of life  

       

10   What is the main topic of the text?

      A  The growth of multitasking      

     B  How complicated the brain’s processes for multitasking are      

              C  The relationship between multitasking and efficiency         

NEF NA

answers: CCBAAACBCC

ADVANCED

READING

Read the article and tick (ü) A, B, or C.

CREATING YOUR OWN JOB SATISFACTION

A lot of people think that job satisfaction is only for other people. They look with envy on people who love their jobs and who don’t think of them as work. The idea of earning a living from something you really like doing only applies to a few very lucky people, they think. But this isn’t so. It’s not only people in the so-called ‘glamour professions’, for example, who can get genuine job satisfaction. You don’t have to be in the arts or a sports person to get enjoyment from what you do for a living. Even if you’re in a boring job, it’s quite possible to get some satisfaction from it.

The key to this is your attitude. You may think it’s unlikely that you can derive much satisfaction from a dull job that doesn’t require much thought and that involves a lot of routine procedures. But if you approach it with the right attitude, and put some effort in, you may be surprised at how enjoyable you can make it. Of course, if you just sit there telling yourself how boring your job is, you’ll never get anything out of it. But if you set out to find ways of making it enjoyable, there’s a good chance you’ll manage to.

One thing you can do is to set yourself challenges. Think about what you can do for yourself to make your work a little bit more interesting. If you’ve got a repetitive job, set yourself some targets to meet and try to beat your previous records. Or use your initiative in other ways. Think about ways you could develop your career into more interesting areas – see how you could improve your skills by doing a course, for example, or look into new skills you could get that would stand you in good stead for the future.

For some people, it’s not boredom that’s the problem, it’s the fact that their jobs involve a significant amount of unpleasantness. But if you keep telling yourself your job is horrible and there’s nothing you can do about it, you’ll get stuck in a rut and you’ll never get out of it. Focus on developing a positive attitude and try to keep any negative thoughts about your job out of your mind. Keep a sense of perspective – if something’s gone wrong on a particular day, decide whether it really matters or not. If it isn’t actually all that important, don’t dwell on it, let it go. Learn from it, and take an upbeat view of what’s happened – you’ll know how to avoid the problem in future, or what to do about it if it happens again.

Of course, you may reach the point where you feel totally trapped in a job. If this mindset starts to overwhelm you, check out the options you may have in the place where you work. Map out a plan for improving your situation there. Are there other roles in the organization you could apply for? Could you ask to be given different tasks? Could you get a different kind of assignment or go to another department where your skills are required? Finding out there are other options will give you a sense of control over your own working life. Even if you have no job satisfaction right now, you’ll feel better if you know that there is a realistic prospect of work that gives you a degree of it.

Expectations are another key ingredient in job satisfaction. Take a long hard look at what you really are capable of. Sometimes it’s important to accept that you couldn’t really do the much more interesting or high-powered job you aspire to. Try to be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses. Focus on the things you really are good at, rather than on things that, if you’re really honest with yourself, you couldn’t actually do. Make the most of your situation and feel good about what you can do, rather than feeling bad about what you can’t do.

Work is a very important part of most people’s lives and it’s important to get at least some satisfaction from it. If you really dislike your time at work, the rest of your life is affected too, and you can easily get a negative outlook on life in general. It’s in your own hands to avoid this. Even if you can’t get the job of your dreams, you can take steps to create your own job satisfaction.

1   The writer’s aim in the first paragraph is to ________.

     A  distinguish between different kinds of work         

     B  correct a false belief      

    C  define the term ‘job satisfaction’  

       

2   In the second paragraph, the writer ________.

    A  warns readers against a certain attitude         

    B  advises readers not to have unrealistic ideas about work      

    C  suggests to readers that most jobs are dull         

3   In the third paragraph, the writer emphasizes ________.

   A  how easy it can be to progress in a career      

   B  a particular route to job satisfaction      

   C  the need for people to motivate themselves    

  

4   The writer uses the phrase ‘stuck in a rut’ to refer to ________.

      A  a situation that won’t improve         

      B  the bad behaviour of others      

      C  the danger of being too sensitive    

     

5   What is the writer’s advice if something goes wrong?

    A  Pretend that it didn’t happen.         

    B  Use the experience to your advantage.      

    C  Don’t think about it until later.  

       

6   The writer says that people who feel ‘trapped’ in a job should consider ________.

     A  discussing their unhappiness with managers      

     B  moving to a different company or organization      

    C  changing the kind of work they do  

       

7   The writer says that you will feel better about your working life if you ________.

     A  think that some job satisfaction is possible in the future      

     B  choose a particular career option for the future      

    C  stop aiming for job satisfaction for a while  

       

8   What does the writer say about expectations of work?

     A  Too many people have unrealistic ones.      

     B  They should be based on real ability.         

     C  They may change as time passes.         

9   In the final paragraph, the writer says that ________.

     A  lack of job satisfaction has serious consequences for people      

     B  a negative attitude to life leads to a negative attitude to work      

     C  there is more to life than job satisfaction   

      

10   Which of the following best sums up the writer’s view in the text as a whole?

       A  Some people find it easier to get job satisfaction than others.      

       B  Everyone can get a certain amount of job satisfaction.      

       C  Job satisfaction is the most important issue in the workplace today.     

    

NEF NA
answers: BACABCABAB