READING PAPER

Part 1 (6 points, 1 point per item). You are going to read an article about the world's best diets.
For questions 1–6, choose from the paragraphs A–E. Some of the paragraphs may be chosen
more than once. There is an example (0).

FRENCH DON'T GET FAT, JAPANESE DON'T GET OLD

A
We are what we eat, so can changing the nationality of our diet improve our
health? According to Mireille Guiliano, French Women Don't Get Fat author, the
French ‘embrace the virtues of freshness, variety, small portions, balance and
always pleasure.’ In 2005, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found
that the average meal in France is 25 per cent smaller than its American
equivalent. Similarly, a carton of yoghurt sold in Philadelphia was 82 per cent
larger than the same product in Paris, a hot dog 63 per cent larger and a soft drink
52 per cent. It's the answer to the riddle of the famed French paradox – the
nation's ability to savour in brie and croissants while keeping their waistlines and
weight in check.
B
According to Naomi Moriyama, the author of Japanese Women Don't Get Old or
Fat, Japan is ‘the food utopia of planet Earth with the world's leanest, healthiest
and longest-lived people.’ In terms of ingredients, the menu in this utopia is
broadly similar to what you'd find in the Mediterranean, with added soya. As in
France, portion control is crucial. Meals are eaten from bowls rather than giant
plates, and a favourite Japanese saying translates as ‘eat until you're only 80 per
cent full.’ Ritual is another key, visible in any decent Japanese restaurant. Even a
cup of tea has its own ceremony with a role for each of the five senses, watching
and listening as the brew is poured, touching the warm cup as you raise it to your
lips, inhaling the scent and finally tasting.
C
These super-diets also overshadow healthy eating habits from other parts of the
world. In neighbouring China, for instance, the traditional diet is very different to
the greasy noodles and arteryclogging pork that fill the menu of your local
takeaway. The country's newfound prosperity has left it with the world's second
highest number of diabetes sufferers, but its dishes have historically evolved
around vegetables, whole grains and soya beans, with small portions of fish or
poultry and only shavings of red meat for flavouring. Researchers have found that
in rural China, where villagers are still eating a traditional diet, it consists of just
20 per cent animal foods. It isn't only the content that's healthy. The preparation
of steaming the food is also very important.
D
Along with gastro tourism, food media of television shows, books and online
forums are making food an increasingly international melange. Instead of national
borders, it is likely to be class boundaries that define how we eat in the future. In
the UK lifespan is rising by around two years a decade but so, too, is the gap
between the life expectancy of so-called manual and non-manual workers. In
1975, a male nonmanual worker lived on average 2.1 years longer than his blue-
collared counterpart; by 2005 that had grown to 3.3 years. Rising food prices will
only accelerate this trend. Those who can afford to eat like yesterday's peasants,
from fork or stream straight to plate, which is more expensive but healthier will
live longer. The rest of society will be chomping on high-calorie junk – check-out
cheap, but very costly as such food is related with heart disease, diabetes and
other illnesses that obesity brings.
E
Food anxiety has turned us all into amateur chemists, but it's still hard to know
what we should eat. Have we become too neurotic about our food? One man
who thinks so is Dr Joe Schwarcz. His book An Apple a Day exposes ‘the myths,
misconceptions and exaggerations about diet, nutrition and the foods we eat.’
According to him, nutrition is of course important, but it is not necessary to
critically examine every bite we put in our mouths. There are no angelic foods or
devilish foods. There are good diets and poor diets. Rather than single out any
one national diet, he'd rather extract their common wisdom. ‘The more whole
grains, fruits and vegetables we eat the better. What we should strive for is three
servings of whole grains a day and at least seven of fruits and vegetables.’
Longevity is largely determined by social status and wealth. 1---
High fiber foods are more important than any particular diet. 2---
People following this diet have the longest lifespan in the world. 3---
The booming economy has changed the nation's eating habits. 4---
The secret of staying slim is discussed by scientists. 5---
People should not base their eating habits on a single diet. 6---

Part 2 (13 points, 1 point per item in questions 1–5 and 2 points per item in questions 6–9). You
are going to read a newspaper article by linguistics professor David Crystal about texting. For
questions 1–5, choose from statements A–G the one which best summarises each paragraph.
There is one statement which you do not need to use. There is an example (0). For questions 6–
9, find words in the text to complete the sentences. There is an example (00).

2B OR NOT 2B
A The language is changing, study says
B The early roots of texting
C The evidence is against texting
D Texting impacts language insignificantly
E Texting requires a good sense for language
F A fear of innovations throughout history
G Severe criticism of texting

0 --- G
Text messaging is just the most recent focus of people's rage; what people are
really angry about is a new generation gaining control of what they see as their
language. Texting is a rather new phenomenon. Some prominent linguists
compare texters with vandals who are doing to the English language what
Genghis Khan did to his neighbours 800 years ago. They are totally destroying it:
punctuation, sentences and vocabulary. And they must be stopped. ‘As a new
variety of language, texting has been condemned as ‘textese’, ‘slanguage’, a
‘digital virus’. Texting is writing for illiterates.’

1 -----
Ever since the arrival of printing – thought to be the invention of the devil
because it would put false opinions into people's minds – people have been
arguing that new technology would have disastrous consequences for language.
Scares accompanied the introduction of the telegraph, telephone, and
broadcasting. But has there ever been a linguistic phenomenon that has aroused
such curiosity, suspicion, fear, confusion, antagonism, fascination, excitement and
enthusiasm all at once as texting? And in such a short space of time. Less than a
decade ago, hardly anyone had heard of it.
2 ----
People think that the written language seen on mobile phone screens is new and
alien, but all the popular beliefs about texting are wrong. Its graphic
distinctiveness is not a new phenomenon, nor is its use restricted to the young.
And only a very tiny part of it uses a distinctive orthography. A trillion text
messages might seem a lot, but when we set these alongside the multi-trillion
instances of standard orthography in everyday life, they appear as no more than a
few ripples on the surface of the sea of language. Texting has added a new
dimension to language use, but its long-term influence is negligible. Misspelling
isn't universal: research shows that only 10% of words used in texts are misspelt.
3 ----
Texters use deviant spellings – and they know they are deviant. But they are by no
means the first to use such nonstandard forms as cos ‘because’, wot ‘what’, or
gissa ‘give us a’. Several of these are so much part of English literary tradition that
they have been given entries in the Oxford English Dictionary. ‘Cos’ is there from
1828 and ‘wot’ from 1829. Many can be found in literary dialect representations
from authors such as Charles Dickens or Mark Twain. In texts we find such forms
as msg (‘message’) and xlnt (‘excellent’). Almst any wrd cn be abbrvted in ths wy –
though there is no consistency between texters. But this isn't new either. Eric
Partridge published his Dictionary of Abbreviations in 1942. It contained dozens of
SMS-looking examples, such as agn ‘again’, mth ‘month’, and gd ‘good’ – 50 years
before texting was born.
4 ----
Children could not be good at texting if they had not already developed
considerable literacy awareness. Before you can write and play with abbreviated
forms, you need to have a sense of how the sounds of your language relate to the
letters. You need to know that there are such things as alternative spellings. If you
are aware that your texting behaviour is different, you must have already intuited
that there is such a thing as a standard. If you are using such abbreviations as lol
(‘laughing out loud’) and brb (‘be right back’), you must have developed a
sensitivity to the communicative needs of your textees.
5 ----
Some people dislike texting. Some are bemused by it. But it is merely the latest
manifestation of the human ability to be linguistically creative and to adapt
language to suit the demands of diverse settings. An extraordinary number of
gloomy prophecies have been made about the supposed linguistic evils unleashed
by texting. Sadly, its creative potential has been virtually ignored. But five years of
research has at last begun to dispel the myths. The evidence shows that the
language as a whole will not decline. In texting what we are seeing, in a small way,
is language in evolution.
For questions 6–9, find words in the text to complete the sentences. Write ONE
word only. There is an example (00).
(00). What are the leading scientists called in one or another sphere? They are
called prominent scientists.
6. Why were people scared of modern technologies? People predicted a
_________________ effect on language.
7. What part of texters use characteristic texting orthography? Such people make
up a _________________ part.
8. What is a contracted form of a written word or a phrase called? It is called an
_________________.
9. What did five years of research show about texting? It started to
_________________ unjustifed beliefs about texting.

Part 3 (6 points, 1 point per item). You are going to read a newspaper article about the Natural
History Museum. Seven phrases have been removed from the text. For questions 1–6, choose
from the phrases A–H the one which best fits each gap. There is one extra phrase you do not
need to use. There is an example (0).

A BUG'S LIFE
It's more science than science-fiction, but the new ‘cocoon’ built by the Natural
History Museum to rehouse its vast collection of plant and insect specimens has
something of the Space Odyssey about it. The largest cocoon ever made by man is
a cavernous, windowless 65-metre, eightstorey structure, which is due to open in
September 2009 to honor Charles Darwin on his 200th birthday (0) H . The cocoon
has grown quietly in west London since it was first conceived in 2001. The cocoon
will house not one insect but 17m of them, all carefully filed and annotated along
with 3m flowering plant specimens. It is not just these unparalleled archives (1)
______. In the heart of the new building the Natural History Museum will also be
putting its greatest living wonders on show: its staff of 220 scientists will be
presented in full view of the public. The public will be able to watch scientists at
work – preparing petri-dishes, peering through microscopes, eating lunch (2)
______. At various points the public will have the opportunity to interact directly
with them, to ask questions and to examine experiments. ‘There's no other
museum in the world (3) ______ in this way or on this scale,’ said Dr Michael
Dixon, director of the museum. ‘We have hundreds of our own scientists and
thousands of others who are visiting, all working with our 70m specimens – (4)
______ to Darwin's finches and the Thames whale. Until now most of our science
has been going on behind the scenes. The plan from the start has been to
incorporate three elements – the collections, the researchers and the public. In
some instances, (5) ______, deep in the heart of the cocoon – the public will be
able to interact though the glass via an intercom system. The scientists will be
able to see you too so it's a two-way process. It gives an idea of the openness.
We've got 17m insect specimens and a lot aren't seen by the public, so it's an
attempt to show more. It's always been designed for three purposes: to improve
the quality of our collections, (6) ______; to have modern facilities for science and
to allow the public to engage with science.’

A that brings the public and scientists together

B as in the specimen preparation area
C that will be stored together for the first time
D which have been at threat from things like water damage
E or perhaps grabbing an afternoon nap
F from meteorites and dinosaur fossils
G which create a two-way transparency
H as the highlight of the museum's Darwin centre

READING PAPER: Total 25 /-------

USE OF ENGLISH PAPER

Part 1 (15 points, 1 point per item). For questions 1–15, insert the missing words.
Write only ONE word in each gap. There is an example (0).
The world of work is changing rapidly. Gone are the days (0) when employment
was working a nine-to-five job, earning a decent wage and (1) __________ the
end of the day going home to be with the family. At (2) __________ start of the
new millennium, employees work harder (3) __________ less pay while spending
longer hours carrying out tasks. Imagine making enough money to pay off all your
debts, save some income, and use some profits (4) __________ pleasure. Sounds
like a great employment situation. However, you have to take action and come (5)
__________ with your own game plan. Developing your own business plan may
seem like a romantic notion, but (6) __________ truth is you will do it alone. You
could fail and lose everything. But you could also take off and fly (7) __________
an eagle. The real question is: do you want that sort (8) __________
responsibility? Do you possess the kind of character required (9) __________ be
your own boss? You must have discipline and work out every detail of your
business like your life depends (10) ___________ it. You must be strong,
intelligent and ready to make (11) ___________ your mind quickly. You must be a
leader. The Internet is overflowing with resources you can use (12) __________
order to get your new business up and running. Today, you have access to a world
of knowledge. You can learn (13) __________ other people's mistakes and avoid
the pitfalls of many new start-up businesses. Furthermore (14) __________ are
millions of potential customers online. Now more (15) __________ ever,
opportunity is knocking for those who dare to answer the call.

Part 2 (10 points, 1 point per item). For questions 1–10, use the word given in
capitals to form a word that fits in the space in the same line of the text. There is
an example (0).

Google is the world's most popular

search engine.
More than 380 million people use it (0) MONTH monthly
(0) ….
Known for its simple design the
company's free
search tool which (1) … consumers to (1) ABLE
type in any
name, term or phrase and (2) … find (2) EFFECT
related
material online. Google's name is a
play on the
word Googol, which is a mathematical (3) REFER
term (3) … to
the number that consists of a 1
followed by 100 zeros.
In most cases, the company provides
its services
free to all (4) …, making profit from (4) CONSUME
putting in an
(5) … on pages instead. As Google's (5) ADVERTISE
visible
(6) … has spread across the Web, it (6) USEFUL
has become one
of the world's most popular sites.
Google also stresses
the respectful (7) … of its employees, (7) TREAT
offering
benefits that are (8) … considered as (8) WIDE
the most
generous. In the past two years,
Google has placed
growing emphasis on (9) … with (9) PARTNER
companies like
eBay, Dell, MTV and AOL. Its simple
mission is to
make the world's information easily
and
quickly (10) …. (10) ACCESS

Part 3 (15 points, 1 point per item). Read the interview with chef T. Beckman. For
questions 1–15, complete the gaps by putting the verbs in brackets in the
appropriate form. There is an example (0).
When and how did you decide to become a chef?
My family and friends encouraged me to go to school to become a better cook. I
had always loved to cook, but I (0) wasn't sure I wanted to become a chef until I
(1) _______________ (to enter) the cooking school. Tell us how your career
unfolded. While I (2) _______________ (to study) at the cooking school, a chef at
the school approached me and asked if I (3) _______________ (to like) a job at a
local hotel. I worked there, then at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago and at a restaurant
called Tra Via where I was able to show what I (4) _______________ (to learn)
over the years.

Who were the biggest inspirations for your career?

My mother and my father because my mother (5) _______________ (to teach)
me how to cook in my childhood and never said that food had (6)
_______________ (to prepare) only one way. My father encouraged me to try
new things, even if I (7) _______________ (not to be) sure they would work.
How important is it to create and maintain relationships within your
profession?
It is extremely important. I was able to communicate with important people only
after I (8) _______________ (to join) several professional organizations. If you
didn't get in touch with other chefs, you (9) _______________ (not to know) what
was going on in the industry.
Is there a major difference where you study?
As far as I can tell, there is no difference. Nowadays you (10) _______________
(to judge) for your ability, and not by where you went to school. Any employer
would rather (11) _______________ (to have) a hardworking and creative chef
than someone with just a diploma from a prestigious school. What do you enjoy
most of all about teaching your students? Being able to play with food makes me
the happiest chef in the world. I (12) _______________ (to teach) for over three
years now, and I love it. Working with students lets me (13) _______________ (to
experiment) and I love passing on my enthusiasm and knowledge.
What advice would you give on the education and career?
I suppose students need (14) _______________ (to get) all the knowledge from
their teachers. Also working skills and abilities need to be developed. So, (15)
_______________ (to work) hard and listen well.
USE OF ENGLISH PAPER: Total 40 /-------