10. M: I spend so much time polishing my letter application.
W: It’s worthwhile to make the effort. You know just how important it is to give
impression.
Q: What do we know about the man?
Passage One
Not everybody reads the daily newspaper. People who don’t read newspaper are
sometimes referred to as non-readers. Early research has shown that the non-readers are
generally low in education low in income either very young or very old. In addition
non-readers are more likely to live in rural areas and have less contact with neighbours
and friends. Other studies show that non-readers tend to isolate themselves from the
community and less likely to own a home and seldom belong to local voluntary
organizations
Why don’t these people read daily paper? They say they don’t have the time they
prefer radio or TV they have no interest in reading a tale and besides they think
newspapers are too expensive. Recent surveys however, have indicated the portrait of the
non-reader is more complicated than first thought. There appears to be a group of
non-readers that do not fit the type mentioned above. They are high in income and fall
into the age group of 26 to 65. They are far move likely to report that they don’t have the
time to read the papers and they have no interest in the content. Editors and publishers
are attempting to win them back. First they are also adding news briefs and
comprehensive indexes. This will help overcome the time problem. And they are also
giving variety to newspaper content to help build the reader’s interest.
Questions 11 to 13 are based on the passage you have just heard.
11. What is typical of non-readers according to early research?
12. What are the finds of recent surveys?
13. What are editors and publishers doing to attract the non-readers?
Passage Two
Did you know that there’s a kind of bird that can sew? This called the tailor bird
uses its mouth as a needle. It sews leaves together in the shape of a cup then it adds a
layer of straw to the inside of the cup and lays its eggs there. Each bird species builds its
own special kind of nest. The most common materials used for nests are grasses branches
and feathers. A bird must weave these materials into a nest. Just imagine building a house
without cement or nails to hold together.
Another bird is called the weaver bird. The weaver bird builds a nest that looks like
a basket the nest shaped like a pear with a hole in the middle. The hole is the door of the
nest. A third bird is called the oven bird. The oven bird makes a nest that is very solid.
The nest is made of mud. The oven bird forms the mud into the shape of an oven and
then let it dry in the sun. The sun bakes the mud making it very hard. Not all birds make
their homes in branches. Some birds build their nests on the ground while others bury
their eggs under the ground. And some birds do not build nests at all. So when you look
for nests and eggs in branches of the trees and bushes remember that some nests may be
right your feet.
Questions 14 to 17 are based on the passage you have just heard.
14. What does the nest built by tailor bird look like?
15. Why is there a hole in the weaver bird’s nest?
16. What is the oven bird’s nest made of?
17. What might surprise us about birds’ nests according to the speaker?
Passage Three
You can tell the age of a tree by counting its rings but these records of trees’ life
really say a lot more. Scientists are using tree rings to learn what’s being happening on the
sun’s surface for the last ten thousand years. Each ring represents a year of growth. As
the tree grows it adds a layer to its trunk taking up chemical elements from the air. By
looking up the elements in the rings for a given year scientists can tell what elements were
in the air that year. Doctors Stevenson is analysing one element—carbon-14 in ring from
both living and dead trees. Some of the rings go back almost ten thousand years to the
end of the Ice Age. When Stevenson followed the carbon-14 trail back in time he found
carbon-4 levels change with the intensity of solar burning. You see the sun has cycles.
Sometimes it burns fiercely and other times it’s relatively calm. During the sun’s violent
periods it throws off charged particles in fast moving strings called solar winds. The
particles interfere with the formation of carbon-14 on earth. When there’s more solar
wind activity less carbon-14 is produced. Ten thousand years of tree rings show that the
carbon-14 level rises and falls about every 420 years. The scientists concluded that the
solar wind activity must follow the same cycle.
Questions 18 to 20 are based on the passage you have just heard.
18. What is the purpose of the scientists in studying tree rings?