Reading Practice

Reading Practice Test 3

READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.

Timekeeper: Invention of Marine Chronometer

A Up to the middle of the 18th century, the navigators were still unable to exactly identify
the position at sea, so they might face a great number of risks such as the shipwreck
or running out of supplies before arriving at the destination. Knowing one’s position on
the earth requires two simple but essential coordinates, one of which is the longitude.

B The longitude is a term that can be used to measure the distance that one has covered
from one’s home to another place around the world without the limitations of
naturally occurring baseline like the equator. To determine longitude, navigators had no
choice but to measure the angle with the naval sextant between Moon centre and a
specific star— lunar distance—along with the height of both heavenly bodies. Together
with the nautical almanac, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was determined, which could be
adopted to calculate longitude because one hour in GMT means 15-degree longitude.
Unfortunately, this approach laid great reliance on the weather conditions, which brought
great inconvenience to the crew members. Therefore, another method was proposed, that
is, the time difference between the home time and the local time served for the
measurement. Theoretically, knowing the longitude position was quite simple, even for the

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people in the middle of the sea with no land in sight. The key element for calculating the
distance travelled was to know, at the very moment, the accurate home time. But the
greatest problem is: how can a sailor know the home time at sea?

C The simple and again obvious answer is that one takes an accurate clock with him,
which he sets to the home time before leaving. A comparison with the local time (easily
identified by checking the position of the Sun) would indicate the time difference between
the home time and the local time, and thus the distance from home was obtained. The
truth was that nobody in the 18th century had ever managed to create a clock that could
endure the violent shaking of a ship and the fluctuating temperature while still maintaining
the accuracy of time for navigation.

D After 1714, as an attempt to find a solution to the problem, the British government
offered a tremendous amount of £20,000, which were to be managed by the magnificently
named ‘Board of Longitude’. If timekeeper was the answer (and there could be other
proposed solutions, since the money wasn’t only offered for timekeeper), then the error of
the required timekeeping for achieving this goal needed to be within 2.8 seconds a day,
which was considered impossible for any clock or watch at sea, even when they were in
their finest conditions.

E This award, worth about £2 million today, inspired the self-taught Yorkshire carpenter
John Harrison to attempt a design for a practical marine clock. In the later stage of
his early career, he worked alongside his younger brother James. The first big project
of theirs was to build a turret clock for the stables at Brockelsby Park, which was
revolutionary because it required no lubrication. Harrison designed a marine clock in
1730, and he travelled to London in seek of financial aid. He explained his ideas to
Edmond Halley, the Astronomer Royal, who then introduced him to George Graham,
Britain’s first-class clockmaker. Graham provided him with financial aid for his early-stage
work on sea clocks. It took Harrison five years to build Harrison Number One or HI.
Later, he sought the improvement from alternate design and produced H4 with the giant
clock appearance. Remarkable as it was, the Board of Longitude wouldn’t grant him the
prize for some time until it was adequately satisfied.

F Harrison had a principal contestant for the tempting prize at that time, an English
mathematician called John Hadley, who developed sextant. The sextant is the tool that
people adopt to measure angles, such as the one between the Sun and the horizon, for a
calculation of the location of ships or planes. In addition, his invention is significant since
it can help determine longitude.

G Most chronometer forerunners of that particular generation were English, but that
doesn’t mean every achievement was made by them. One wonderful figure in the
history is the Lancastrian Thomas Earnshaw, who created the ultimate form of
chronometer escapement—the spring detent escapement—and made the final decision on

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format and productions system for the marine chronometer, which turns it into a genuine
modem commercial product, as well as a safe and pragmatic way of navigation at sea over
the next century and half.

Questions 1-5
Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

1 a description of Harrison’s background

2 problems caused by poor ocean navigation

3 the person who gave financial support to Harrison

4 an analysis of the long-term importance of sea clock invention

5 the practical usage of longitude

Questions 6-8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1
?

In boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet, write

6 In theory, sailors can easily calculate their longitude position at

sea.

7 To determine longitude, the measurement of the distance from

the Moon to the given star is a must.

8 Greenwich Mean Time was set up by the English navigators.

Questions 9-14
Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage
for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 9-14 on your answer sheet.

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Sailors were able to use the position of the Sun to calculate 9

An invention that could win the competition would lose no more than
10 every day.

John and James Harrison’s clock worked accurately without 11

Harrison’s main competitor’s invention was known as 12

Hadley’s instrument can use 13 to make a calculation of

location of ships or planes.

The modem version of Harrison’s invention is called 14

READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-27, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.

The Evolutionary Mystery: Crocodile Survives

A Even though crocodiles have existed for 200 million years, they’re anything but primitive.
As crocodiles’ ancestors, crocodilia came to adapt to an aquatic lifestyle. When most of
the other contemporary reptiles went extinct, crocodiles were able to make it because their
bodies changed and they adapted better to the climate. They witnessed the rise and fall of
the dinosaurs, which once ruled the planet, and even the 65 million years of alleged
mammalian dominance didn’t wipe them off. Nowadays, the crocodiles and alligators are
not that different from their prehistoric ancestors, which proves that they were (and still
are) incredibly adaptive.

B The first crocodile-like ancestors came into existence approximately 230 million years
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ago, and they had many of the features which make crocodiles natural and perfect stealth
hunters: streamlined body, long tail, protective armour and long jaws. They are bom with
four short, webbed legs, but this does not mean that their capacity to move on the ground
shall ever be underestimated. When they move, they are so fast that you won’t even have
any chance to try making the same mistake again by getting too close, especially when
they’re hunting.

C Like other reptiles, crocodiles are poikilothermal animals (commonly known as

coldblooded, whose body temperature changes with that of the surroundings) and
consequently, require exposure to sunlight regularly to raise body temperature. When it is
too hot, they would rather stay in water or shade. Compared with mammals and
birds, crocodiles have a slower metabolism, which makes them less vulnerable to food
shortage. In the most extreme case, a crocodile can slow its metabolism down even
further, to the point that it would survive without food for a whole year, enabling them to
outlive mammals in relatively volatile environments.

D Crocodiles have a highly efficient way to prey catching. The prey rarely realises there
might be a crocodile under the water because the crocodile makes a move without any
noise or great vibration when spotting its prey. It only keeps its eyes above the water level.
As soon as it feels close enough to the victim, it jerks out of the water with its wide open
jaws. Crocodiles are successful because they are capable of switching feeding methods. It
chases after fish and snatches birds at the water surface, hides in the waterside bushes in
anticipation of a gazelle, and when the chance to ambush presents itself, the crocodile
dashes forward, knocks the animal out with its powerful tail and then drags the prey into
the water to drown.

E In many crocodilian habitats, the hot season brings drought that dries up their hunting
grounds, leaving it harder for them to regulate body temperatures. This actually
allowed reptiles to rule. For instance, many crocodiles can protect themselves by digging
holes and covering themselves in mud, waiting for months without consuming any food
or water until the rains finally return. They transform into a quiescent state called
aestivation.

F The majority of crocodilian is considered to go. into aestivation during the dry season. In
a six-year study by Kennett and Christian, the King Crocodiles, a species of Australian
freshwater crocodiles, spent nearly four months a year underground without access
to water resources. Doubly labelled water was applied to detect field metabolic rates
and water flux, and during some years, plasma fluid samples were taken once a month
to keep track of the effects of aestivation regarding the accumulation of nitrogenous
wastes and electrolyte concentrations.

G The study discovered that the crocodiles’ metabolic engines function slowly, creating
waste and exhausting water and fat reserves. Waste is stored in the urine, becoming more
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and more concentrated. Nevertheless, the concentration of waste products in
blood doesn’t fluctuate much, allowing the crocodiles to carry on their normal
functions. Besides, even though the crocodiles lost water reserves and body weight when
underground, the losses were proportional; upon emerging, the aestivating animals had
no dehydration and displayed no other harmful effects such as a slowed-down growth
rate. The two researchers reckon that this capacity of crocodiles to get themselves
through the harsh times and the long starvation periods is sure to be the answer to the
crocodilian line’s survival throughout history.

Questions 15-21
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-xi, in boxes 15-21 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i The favourable feature in the impact of a drought

ii A unique finding that was recently achieved

iii Slow metabolism which makes crocodile a unique reptile

iv The perfectly designed body for a great land roamer

v Shifting eating habits and food intake

vi A project on a special mechanism

vii Regulating body temperature by the surrounding environment

viii Underwater aid in body structure offered to a successful predator

ix A historical story for the supreme survivors

x What makes the crocodile the fastest running animal on land

xi The competition between the crocodiles and other animals

15
Paragraph A

16
Paragraph B

17
Paragraphe

18
Paragraph D

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19
Paragraph E

20
Paragraph F

21
Paragraphe

Questions 22-27
Complete the summary below,

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 22-27 on your answer sheet.

Aestivation

In many places inhabited by crocodilians, most types of crocodiles have evolved a

successful scheme to survive in the drought brought by a 22
. According to Kennett and Christian’s six-year study of Australian freshwater
crocodiles’ aestivation, they found aestivating crocodiles spent around
23 of the year and had no access to 24 .
The amount of water in the body declined proportionately with
25 ; thus there is no sign of 26 . and other
health-damaging impact on the crocodiles even after an aestivation period. This
super capacity helps crocodiles endure the tough drought without slowing their
speed of 27 .

READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40, which are based on Reading
Passage 3 below.

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Company Innovation
A In a shabby office in downtown Manhattan, a group of 30 AI (artificial intelligence)
programmers from Umagic are attempting to mimic the brains of a famous sexologist, a
celebrated dietitian, a popular fitness coach and a bunch of other specialists,
Umagic Systems is an up-and-coming firm, which sets up websites that enable their
clients to seek advice from the virtual versions of those figures. The users put in all the
information regarding themselves and their objectives; then it’s Umagic’s job to give
advice, that a star expert would give. Even though the neuroses of American consumers
have always been a marketing focus, the future of Umagic is difficult to predict (who
knows what it’ll be like in ten years? Asking a computer about your sex life might be
either normal or crazy). However, companies such, as Umagic1 are starting .to intimidate
major American firms, because these young companies regard the half-crazy ‘creative’
ideas as the portal lo their triumph m the future.

B innovation has established itself as the catchword of American business management

Enterprises have realised that they are running out of things that can be outsourced or re-
engineered (worryingly, by their competitors too) Winners of today’s American business
tend to be companies with innovative powers such as Dell, Amazon and Wal-Mart, which
have come up with concepts or goods that have reshaped their industries.

C According to a new book by two consultants from Arthur D. Little, during the last 15
years, the top 20% of firms in Fortune magazine’s annual innovation survey have attained
twice as much the shareholder returns as their peers. The desperate search for new ideas
is the hormone for a large part of today’s merger boom. The same goes for the money
spent on licensing and purchasing others’ intellectual property. Based on the statistics
from Pasadena-based Patent & Licence Exchange, trade volume in intangible assets in
America has gone up from $15 billion in 1990 to $100 billion in 1998, with small firms and
individuals taking up an increasing share of the rewards.

D And that terrifies big companies: it appears that innovation works incompatible with
them. Some major famous companies that are always known for ‘innovative ideas’, such
as 3M, Procter & Gamble, and Rubbermaid, have recently had dry spells. Peter Chernin,
who runs the Fox TV and film empire for News Corporation, points out that ‘In the
management of creativity, size is your enemy.’ It’s impossible for someone
who’s managing 20 movies to be as involved as someone doing 5. Therefore, he has tried
to divide the studio into smaller parts, disregarding the risk of higher expenses.

E Nowadays, ideas are more likely to prosper outside big companies. In the old days,
when a brilliant scientist came up with an idea and wanted to make money out of it, he
would take it to a big company first. But now, with all these cheap venture capital around,
he would probably want to commercialise it by himself. So far, Umagic has already raised
$5m and is on its way to another $25m. Even in the case of capital-intensive businesses
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like pharmaceuticals, entrepreneurs have the option to conduct early-stage research and
sell out to the big firms when they’re faced with costly, risky clinical trials. Approximately
1/3 of drug firms’ total revenue is now from licensed-in technology.

F Some of the major enterprises such as General Electric and Cisco have been
impressively triumphant when it comes to snatching and incorporating small companies’
scores. However, other grants are concerned about the money they have to spend
and the way to keep those geniuses who generated the idea. It is the dream of everyone
to develop more ideas within their organisations Procter & Gamble is currently switching
their entire business focus from countries to products; one of the goals is to get the whole
company to accept the innovations. In other places, the craving for innovation has caused
a frenzy lor intrapreneurship’ transferring power and establishing internal idea-workshops
and tracking inventory so that the talents will stay.

G Some people don't believe that this kind of restructuring is sufficient. Clayton
Christensen argues in new book that big firms’ many advantages, such as taking care of
their existing customers, can get in the way of innovative behaviour that is necessary
for handling disruptive technologies That’s why there’s been the trend of
cannibalisation, which brings about businesses that will confront and jeopardise the
existing ones. For example, Bank One has set up Wingspan, which is an online bank that
in fact compete, with its actual branches.

H There’s no denying that innovation is a big leal. However, do major firms have to be this
pessimistic? According to a recent survey of the to 50 innovations in America by Industry
Week, ide as are equally likely to come from both big and small companies.
Big companies can adopt new ideas when they are mature enough and the risks and
rewards have become more quantifiable.

Questions 28-33
Reading Passage 3 has nine paragraphs, A-I.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 28-33 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

28
an approach to retain the best employees

29
safeguarding expenses on innovative ideas

30
a certain counter-effect produced by integrating outside firms

31
an example of three famous American companies’ innovation
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32
an example of one company changing its focus

33
an example of a company resolving financial difficulties itself

Questions 34-37
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage
3?

In boxes 34-37 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement is true

FALSE if the statement is false

NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

34
Umagic is the most successful innovative company in this
new field.

35
Amazon and Wal-Mart exchanged their innovation
experience.

36
New ideas’ holders had already been known to take it to
small companies in the past.

37
IBM failed to understand Umagic’s proposal of a new idea.

Questions 38-40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

What is the author’s opinion on innovation in paragraph

38 C?

A  It only works for big companies.

B  Fortune magazine has a globally huge influence.

C  It is becoming increasingly important.

D  Its effects on American companies are more evident.

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 What is Peter Chemin’s point of view on
39 innovation?

A  Small companies are more innovative than big ones.

B  Film industry needs more innovation than other industries.

C  We need to cut the cost when risks occur.

D  New ideas are more likely going to big companies.

What is the author’s opinion on innovation at the end of this

40 passage?

A  Umagic success lies on the accidental ‘virtual expert’.

B  Innovation is easy and straightforward.

C  IBM sets a good example on innovation.

D  The author’s attitude is uncertain on innovation.

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 Solution:

1 E 2 A

3 E 4 G

5 B 6 TRUE

7 FALSE 8 NOT GIVEN

9 local time 10 2.8 seconds

11 lubrication 12 (a/the) sextant

13 angles 14 marine chronometer

15 ix 16 iv

17 iii 18 v

19 i 20 vi

21 ii 22 hot season/dry season

23 four months 24 water resources

25 body weight 26 dehydration

27 growth 28 F

29 C 30 G

31 B 32 F

33 E 34 FALSE

35 NOT GIVEN 36 FALSE

37 TRUE 38 C

39 A 40 D
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