PASSAGE 1
The World Health Organisation has produced a report predicting that 9.8 billion of us will be living on this planet by 2050. Of that number, 72% will be living in urban areas – a higher proportion than ever before. Presented with this information, governments have a duty to consider how best to meet the needs of city residents, and not just for the short-term. Certain problems associated with urban living have been highlighted by research company Richmond-Carver in its latest global survey.
At the top of the list survey respondents' concerns is the fact that competition amongst tenants for rental properties has driven the median price up – so much so people need to hold down two or more jobs to meet all their expenses. Another issue the survey highlighted is the difficulty commuters face. Overcrowding means that seats are often not available on long journeys, but more significant is that schedules are unreliable. Many studies have shown the effect that has on a country's productivity.
Interestingly, certain problems seem more common in some cities than others: respondents from increasingly crowded European cities, including Manchester and Barcelona, commented on how their quality of life was affected by loud machinery, other people's music and car alarms. Something the survey failed to ask about was the value people placed on having access to nature in urban neighborhoods. However, some countries are already moving forward. Singapore is a prime example; its rooftop gardens make the city a far more desirable place to live. It is the Singaporean government that is behind this push for sustainable living.
Perhaps some clearer government direction would benefit other cities. Take New York City, a place where I frequently meet up with other researchers in my field. Luckily for me, I am driven from the airport to the research centre, so do not need to navigate the freeways and constant congestion. Admittedly my experience of the urban lifestyle here is limited to the hotels I stay in, and the blocks within a three-kilometre walk. But whenever I leave my room in search of an outlet providing fruit or anything with nutritional value, none can be found. It seems ridiculous that this should be the case. New York has made great advances in redeveloping its museums and arts centres, but authorities must recognize that people's basic needs must be met first.
PASSAGE 2
So what are some examples of SRBs? Many that have come to my attention recently are small-scale local companies, such as Renew, which searches demolition sites for old materials – wooden floorboards and other construction timber, for example. Rather than allow these resources to be wasted, the team at Renew have fashioned them into a range of tables, chairs and similar items that are sold at relatively low cost. Other SRBs have rather different goals. The first Indulge cafè was established by owner Derek Jardine in an area with few local amenities. The idea for the cafè was to provide a meeting place for local residents - community hub – not only by serving food and drink but also by running workshops, film evenings and art exhibitions. There are now six Indulge cafès around the country with more planned. Of course, large corporations may not be in a position to change their products or services quickly. But one international telecommunications corporation, for example, enables its employees to take part in the Green Scheme, whereby staff give short periods of their time unpaid plant trees in conservation areas, and numerous other large companies have similar initiatives.
Another small SRB that caught my eye is Bright Sparks, where engineer Johann Jensen is investigating the use of things such as bamboo and soya beans to make coffee capsules and takeaway cups that will break down and decay naturally. In the longer term, Jensen hopes to work on other kinds of packaging for the food and hospitality industries. Meanwhile, Greener Good is now in its second decade of running a farm-to-table vegetable and fruit delivery box service to inner city residents. Recent years have seen a significant increase in demand for this type of direct service, bypassing traditional retailers.
The increase in the number of such SRBs is associated with the rise of conscious consumers', who want to know exactly how products they buy have been produced. What was the environmental impact? Were workers treated ethically? So the arguments is sometimes put forward that SRBs are a response to new consumer values. But equally, many SRBs that I have studied were established by entrepreneurs who\ wanted to make a difference and have taken consumers along with them. In reality, both sides of the relationship have contributed to the fresh approach. Consumers, of course, are not always members of the public. Recently I spoke to Lucinda Mitchell, procurement officer for my local council here in London, who told me that her organisation frequently purchases from SRBs because of shared values. Local, state and national authorities huge purchasing power for both goods and services. And Mitchell's position is becoming commonplace internationally as these bodies are increasingly prepared to work with SRBs, provided they are competitive on price and quality.
PASSAGE 3
A
The very first museums of the world were private collections of objects by wealthy people and institutions. The objects in these museums were displayed in Cabinets of Curiosities, also called Cabinets of Wonder or Wonder Rooms. The word “cabinet” was then used to describe a room and not a piece of furniture. The oldest recorded example of such was the Ennigaldi Nanna's museum that was located in Mesopotamia. It was founded in 530 BC.
Before the 18th century, only elite or respectable members of society, by the standards of that era, could visit museums with permission from the owner and the staff. The first museums to be opened for the general public were the British Museum in London in 1759 and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in 1765. However, even though they were no longer exclusive places, only people from the middle and upper class were privileged with a written permission request. Also, the visitations were often limited to a few hours. The first public museum in its true sense was the Louvre in Paris which was opened in 1793 to people of any status and age, emerging as an agent of nationalistic fervor.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, societies began to regard museums as centers of the production of new knowledge. Historical museums shifted focus to display scientific discoveries and artistic developments with collections that could be useful for research also. Over the twentieth century, as cities increased in size, wealth, and population, more museums developed. These were shaped by the public response to education and entertainment. Greater funding was directed towards the development of modern museums. Study programs dedicated to the field of art and culture were created to promote the growth of museums, and activities such as the collection and preservation of artifacts such as paintings or sculptures had consequently become more organized. Even wealthy industrialists such as Henry Ford and Henry Mercer contributed their collections leading to the development of more privately run museums.
B
A breeze of change was once again felt in the early 21st century. Museums were no longer anchored to the national ideal and today's new museums attract intellectuals as well as tourists and students. Attitudes toward museums have become more favorable as people no longer view them as boring, cold places that drag you to the past.
One of the main factors that have contributed to this is technology. Modern museums have embraced technology with considerable use of multimedia, digital displays, touch screens as well as other interactive technologies. Some museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, use technology that allows visitors to see the objects, hear or read about the collection on their smartphones by scanning the artwork. Other national museums have also followed suit by embracing mobile interactivity. The Smithsonian Institution, which is the world's largest museum and research complex containing 19 museums and galleries, provides cell phone tours, interactive games like Pheon, which is a multimedia scavenger hunt game, multilingual slideshows, and even augmented reality apps such as one from the postal museum showing Owney, the mascot of the Railway Mail Service.
Additionally, there are some museums such as the National Museum of African Art that have the Artists in Dialogue 2 app, which allows for visual calls and responses that cut across physical and political borders. The app facilitates a guided tour of the museum with the curator virtually, and also allows the user to experiment with the artistic technique in a virtual art-development game. The user can even communicate with active groups of the museum on social media.
So far, technology has provided modern-day museums with the opportunity to share images and works of art with more people than ever before. However, the conclusion is that technology is enhancing and not replacing the brick and mortar museums since technology cannot replace a live experience for the viewer such as live interaction with the experts, emotional reactions, and the physicality of artworks.
PASSAGE 4
A
Not only are the ingredients of concrete relatively cheap and found in abundance in most places around the globe, the stuff itself has marvellous properties: Portland cement, the vital component of concrete, is mouldable and pourable, but quickly sets hard. Cheeseman also notes another advantage: concrete and steel have similar thermal expansion properties, so steel can be used to reinforce concrete, making it far stronger and more flexible as a building material than it could be on its own. According to Cheeseman, all these factors together make concrete hard to beat. 'Concrete is amazing stuff. Making anything with similar properties is going to be very difficult.'
B
A possible alternative to concrete is wood. Making buildings from wood may seem like a rather medieval idea, but climate change is driving architects to turn to treated timber as a possible resource. Recent years have seen the emergence of tall buildings constructed almost entirely from timber. Vancouver, Vienna and Brumunddal in Norway are all home to constructed tall, wooden buildings.
C
Using wood to construct buildings, however, is not straightforward. Wood expands as it absorbs moisture from the air and is susceptible to pests, not to mention fire. But treating wood and combining it with other materials can improve its properties. Cross-laminated timber is engineered wood. An adhesive is used to stick layers of solid-sawn timber together, crosswise, to form building blocks. This material is light but has the strength of concrete and steel. Construction experts say that wooden buildings can be constructed at a greater speed than ones of concrete and steel and the process, it seems, is quieter.
D
Stora Enso is Europe's biggest supplier of cross-laminated timber, and its vice-president Markus Mannstrom reports that the company is seeing increasing demand globally for building in wood, with climate change concerns the key driver. Finland, with its large forests, where Stora Enso is based, has been leading the way, but the company is seeing a rise in demand for its timber products across the world, including in Asia. Of course, using timber in a building also locks away the carbon that it absorbed as it grew. But even treated wood has its limitations and only when a wider range of construction projects has been proven in practice will it be possible to see wood as a real alternative to concrete in constructing tall buildings.
PASSAGE 5
The current pedagogical paradigm is arguably that of constructivism, which emerged out of the work of psychologist Lev Vygotsky. In the 1930s, Vygotsky emphasised the importance of targeting a student's specific 'zone of proximal development' (ZPD). This is the gap between what they can achieve only with support – teachers, textbooks, worked examples, parents and so on – and what they can achieve independently. The purpose of teaching is to provide and then gradually remove this 'scaffolding' until they are autonomous. If we accept this model, it follows that streaming students with similar ZPDs would be an efficient and effective solution. And that forcing everyone on the same hike – regardless of aptitude – would be madness.
Despite all this, there is limited empirical evidence to suggest that streaming results in better outcomes for students. Professor John Hattie, director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute, notes that 'tracking has minimal effects on learning outcomes'. What is more, streaming appears to significantly – and negatively – affect those students assigned to the lowest sets. These students tend to have much higher representation of low socioeconomic class. Less significant is the small benefit for those lucky clever students in the higher sets. The overall result is that the smart stay smart and the dumb get dumber, further entrenching the social divide.
In the latest update of Hattie's influential meta-analysis of factors influencing student achievement, one of the most significant factors is the teachers' estimate of achievement. Streaming students by diagnosed achievement automatically limits what the teacher feels the student is capable of. Meanwhile, in a mixed environment, teachers' estimates need to be more diverse and flexible.
While streaming might seem to help teachers effectively target a student's ZPD, it can underestimate the importance of peer-to-peer learning. A crucial aspect of constructivist theory is the role of the MKO – 'more knowledgeable other' – in knowledge construction. While teachers are traditionally the MKOs in classrooms, the value of knowledgeable student peers must not go unrecognised either.
Questions 1 - 5
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-H, below.
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
Survey on problems facing city dwellers
The world Health Organisation has recently published data concerning 1 in cities. This data should indicate the governments that they must think about ways to improve the lives of residents. According to a Richmond-Carver survey, the worst problem facing many city dwellers was 2 . The survey also indicated that in some cities, poor 3 can impact dramatically on the economy. Another issue seems to be 4 , although this is more often mentioned by survey participants in European countries. Questions on people's views on the need for 5 were unfortunately omitted from the survey, but countries like Singapore already seem to be making progress in this respect.
Questions 1 - 5
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-H, below.
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
Examples of SRBs
Renew has made a successful business out of designing 1 . On the other hand, Indulge wishes to promote 2 and is expanding to new sites. Large corporations cannot always make quick changes but many make provisions for 3 , such as the Green Scheme. One a smaller scale, Johann Jensen is experimenting with types of 4 and is planning other ventures. In contrast, an example of a well-established business is Greener Good, which provides 5 to a growing market.
Questions 1 - 7
Complete the summary below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY from Part A of the passage for each answer.
1 The earliest museums displayed personal belonging to rich people, and until the eighteenth century, only the elite class could visit these places.
2 In the latter half of the century, the British Museum and the Uffizi Gallery opened their doors for the but not without restrictions.
3 Finally, in 1793, the Louvre in Paris allowed access irrespective of class and and became a key factor in promoting nationalistic emotions.
Complete the summary based on Part B of the passage using the list of words, A- G, below.
Museums of 21st century
4 Modern museums have become places to visit with the adoption of various interactive technologies.
5 In the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, visitors can get about any artwork by scanning it through their smartphones.
6 The National Museum of African Art provides the opportunity for a virtual with the curator, artists, and social media groups through an app.
7 Thus, the latest technology is the existing museums by giving an enriched experience to the visitors.
Questions 1 - 4
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Making buildings with wood
Wood is a traditional building material, but current environmental concerns are encouraging 1 to use wood in modern construction projects. Using wood, however, has its challenges. For example, as 2 in the atmosphere enters wood, it increases in size. In addition, wood is prone to pests and the risk of fire is greater. However, wood can be turned into a better construction material if it is treated and combined with other materials. In one process, 3 of solid wood are glued together to create building blocks. These blocks are lighter than concrete and steel but equal them in strength. Experts say that wooden buildings are an improvement on those made of concrete and steel in terms of the 4 with which they can be constructed and how much noise is generated by the process.
Questions 1 - 5
Complete the summary using the list of phrases, A-I, below.
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 31-35 on your answer sheet.
Is streaming effective?
According to Professor John Hattie of the Melbourne Education Research Institute there is very little indication that streaming leads to 1 . He points out that, in schools which use streaming, the most significant impact is on those students placed in the 2 , especially where a large proportion of them have 3 . Meanwhile, for the 4 , there appears to be only minimal advantage. A further issue is that teachers tend to have 5 of students in streamed groups.