Mock Test 9
Mock Test 9
I. LISTENING
Part 1. For questions 1-5, listen to a talk about why some people have wanderlust and decide
whether these statements are True (T), False (F), or Not Given (NG). Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes provided.
1. Wanderlust originates from German, literally meaning a strong desire to travel and experience the
unknown.
2. The 7R variant of the DRD4 gene is linked to lower dopamine sensitivity, thereby discouraging
people from taking risks or seeking for sensation.
3. Genetics is the most important factor to differentiate between a thrill-seeker and a homebody.
4. People tend to compare themselves to the better-off rather than the worse-off.
5. The quote by Jack Kerouac implies that venturing to distant lands makes our life more
meaningful.
Part 3: You will hear a radio interview with someone who has been having ballet lessons. For
questions 1-5, choose the answer (А, В, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear.
1. What does Rupert say about the fact that he is doing ballet classes?
A Other people have ridiculed him for it.
В He expects to be mocked for it.
C It is not as unusual as people might think.
D People may think it isn’t really true.
3. Rupert says that when the idea of ballet lessons was suggested to him,
A he thought it was a joke.
В he was unsure exactly what would be involved.
C he began to have unrealistic expectations of what he could achieve.
D he initially lacked the confidence to do it.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
Part 2: For questions 15-20, write the correct form of each bracketed word in the corresponding
numbered boxes. There is an example at the beginning.
THE DESIRE TO KNOW
Curiosity goes back to the dawn of human (0)______ (EXIST). This irrepressible desire to know is not
a characteristic of inanimate objects. Nor does it seem to be (15) ______ (ATTRIBUTE) to some form
of living organisms which, for that very reason, we can scarcely bring ourselves to consider alive. A
tree, for example, does not display recognizable curiosity, not does a sponge, or even an oyster. If
chance events bring them poison, predators or parasites, they die as (16)_______ (CEREMONY) as
they lived.
Early in the scheme of life, independent motion was developed by some organisms. It meant an ( 17)
______ (ORDINARY) advance in their control of the environment. A moving organism no longer
waited in stolid (18) _______ (RIGID) for food to come its way, but went out after it. The individual
that hesitated in the (19) _______(ZEAL) search for food, or that was overly conservative in its
investigation, starved.
As organisms grew more complex, more messages or greater variety were received from and about the
surrounding environment. At the same time, the nervous system, the living instrument that interprets
and stores the data collected by the sense organs, became (20) _______(INCREASE) complex.
Your answers : 0. existence
15. 16. 17.
18. 19. 20.
Part 2 : For questions 11-22. Read the following passage and , for each question, choose one best
answers (A, B, C or D) based on what stated in the passage or on what can be inferred from the
passage. Write your answers (A, B, C, D) in the corresponding numbered boxes.
METHODS OF STUDYING INFANT PERCEPTION
In the study of perceptual abilities of infants, a number of techniques are used to determine infants’
responses to various stimuli. Because they cannot verbalize or fill out questionnaires, indirect
techniques of naturalistic observation are used as the primary means of determining what infants can
see, hear, feel, and so forth. Each of these methods compares an infant’s state prior to the introduction
of a stimulus with its state during or immediately following the stimulus. The difference between the
two measures provides the researcher with an indication of the level and duration of the response to the
stimulus. For example, if a uniformly moving pattern of some sort is passed across the visual field of a
neonate (newborn), repetitive following movements of the eye occur. The occurrence of these eye
movements provides evidence that the moving pattern is perceived at some level by the newborn.
Similarly, changes in the infant’s general level of motor activity - turning the head, blinking the eyes,
crying, and so forth - have been used by researchers as visual indicators of the infant’s perceptual
abilities.
Such techniques, however, have limitations. First, the observation may be unreliable in that two or
more observers may not agree that the particular response occurred, or to what degree it occurred.
Second, responses are difficult to quantify. Often the rapid and diffuse movements of the infant make it
difficult to get an accurate record of the number of responses. The third, and most potent, limitation is
that it is not possible to be certain that the infant’s response was due to the stimulus presented or to a
change from no stimulus to a stimulus. The infant may be responding to aspects of the stimulus
different than those identified by the investigator. Therefore, when observational assessment is used as
a technique for studying infant perceptual abilities, care must be taken not to overgeneralize from the
data or to rely on one or two studies as conclusive evidence of a particular perceptual ability of the
infant.
Observational assessment techniques have become much more sophisticated, reducing the limitations
just presented. Film analysis of the infant’s responses, heart and respiration rate monitors, and
nonnutritive sucking devices are used as effective tools in understanding infant perception. [A] Film
analysis permits researchers to carefully study the infant’s responses over and over and in slow motion.
[B] Precise measurements can be made of the length and frequency of the infant’s attention between
two stimuli. [C] Heart and respiration monitors provide the investigator with the number of heartbeats
or breaths taken when a new stimulus is presented. [D] Numerical increases are used as quantifiable
indicators of heightened interest in the new stimulus. Increases in nonnutritive sucking were first used
as an assessment measure by researchers in 1969. They devised an apparatus that connected a baby’s
pacifier to a counting device. As stimuli were presented, changes in the infant’s sucking behavior were
recorded. Increases in the number of sucks were used as an indicator of the infant’s attention to or
preference for a given visual display.
Two additional techniques of studying infant perception have come into vogue. The first is the
habituation- dishabituation technique, in which a single stimulus is presented repeatedly to the infant
until there is a measurable decline (habituation) in whatever attending behavior is being observed. At
that point a new stimulus is presented, and any recovery (dishabituation) in responsiveness is recorded.
If the infant fails to dishabituate and continues to show habituation with the new stimulus, it is assumed
that the baby is unable to perceive the new stimulus as different. The habituation-dishabituation
paradigm has been used most extensively with studies of auditory and olfactory perception in intants.
The second technique relies on evoked potentials, which are electrical brain responses that may be
related to a particular stimulus because of where they originate. Changes in the electrical pattern of the
brain indicate that the stimulus is getting through to the infant’s central nervous system and eliciting
some form of response.
Each of the preceding techniques provides the researcher with evidence that the infant can detect or
discriminate between stimuli. With these sophisticated observational assessment and electro
physiological measures, we know that the neonate of only a few days is far more perceptive than
previously suspected. However, these measures are only “indirect” indicators of the infant’s perceptual
abilities.
11. The word “uniformly” in the paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to_______.
A. clearly B. quickly C. consistently D. occasionally
12. Paragraph 1 indicates that researchers use indirect methods primarily to observe the _________ .
A. range of motor activity in neonates
B. frequency and duration of various stimuli
C. change in an infant’s state following the introduction of a stimulus
D. range of an infant’s visual field
13. Why does the author mention “repetitive following movements of the eye” in paragraph 1?
A. To identify a response that indicates a neonate’s perception of a stimulus
B. To explain why a neonate is capable of responding to stimuli only through repetitive movements
C. To argue that motor activity in a neonate may be random and unrelated to stimuli
D. To emphasize that responses to stimuli vary in infants according to age
14. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph 2 as a problem in using the technique of
direct observation?
A. It is impossible to be certain of the actual cause of an infant’s response.
B. Infants’ responses, which occur quickly and diffusely, are often difficult to measure.
C. Infants do not respond well to stimuli presented in an unnatural laboratory setting.
D. It may be difficult for observers to agree on the presence or the degree of a response.
15. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the underlined sentence in
paragraph 2? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential
information.
A. Researchers using observational assessment techniques on infants must not overgeneralize and
must base their conclusions on data from many studies.
B. On the basis of the data from one or two studies, it seems that some infants develop a particular
perceptual ability not observed in others.
C. To use data from one or two studies on infants' perceptual abilities, it is necessary to use
techniques that will provide conclusive evidence.
D. When researchers fail to make generalizations from their studies, their observed data is often
inconclusive.
16. What is the author’s primary purpose in paragraph 3?
A. To explain why researchers must conduct more than one type of study when they are attempting
to understand infant perception
B. To describe new techniques for observing infant perception that overcome problems identified in
the previous paragraph
C. To present and evaluate the conclusions of various studies on infant perception
D. To point out the strengths and weaknesses of three new methods for quantifying an infant’s
reaction to stimuli
17. The word “quantifiable” in the paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _______ .
A. visual B. permanent C. meaningful D. measurable
18. Paragraph 3 mentions all of the following as indications of an infant's heightened interest in a new
stimulus EXCEPT an increase in
A. sucking behavior B. the number of breaths taken C. heart rate D. eye movements
19. According to paragraph 4, which of the following leads to the conclusion that infants are able to
differentiate between stimuli in a habituation-dishabituation study?
A. Dishabituation occurs with the introduction of a new stimulus.
B. Electrical responses in the infant’s brain decline with each new stimulus.
C. Habituation is continued with the introduction of a new stimulus.
D. The infant displays little change in electrical brain responses.
20. In paragraph 4, what does the author suggest about the way an infant’s brain perceives stimuli?
A. An infant’s potential to respond to a stimulus may be related to the size of its brain.
B. Changes in the electrical patterns of an infant’s brain are difficult to detect.
C. Different areas of an infant's brain respond to different types of stimuli.
D. An infant is unable to perceive more than one stimulus at a time.
21. Paragraph 5 indicates that researchers who used the techniques described in the passage discovered
that ____________ .
A. infants find it difficult to perceive some types of stimuli
B. neonates of only a few days cannot yet discriminate between stimuli
C. observational assessment is less useful for studying infant perception than
researchers previously believed
D. a neonate is able to perceive stimuli better than researchers once thought
22. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the
passage. Where would the sentence best fit?
The repetition allows researchers to observe the infant's behavior until they reach agreement about the
presence and the degree of the infant's response.
17 18 19 20 21 22
A In April 2002 an event took place which demonstrated one of the many applications of
information theory. The space probe, Voyager I, launched in 1977, had sent back spectacular
images of Jupiter and Saturn and then soared out of the Solar System on a one-way mission to
the stars. After 25 years of exposure to the freezing temperatures of deep space, the probe was
beginning to show its age. Sensors and circuits were on the brink of failing and NASA experts
realised that they had to do something or lose contact with their probe forever. The solution was
to get a message to Voyager I to instruct it to use spares to change the failing parts. With the
probe 12 billion kilometres from Earth, this was not an easy task. By means of a radio dish
belonging to NASA’s Deep Space Network, the message was sent out into the depths of space.
Even travelling at the speed of light, it took over 11 hours to reach its target, far beyond the
orbit of Pluto. Yet, incredibly, the little probe managed to hear the faint call from its home
planet, and successfully made the switchover.
B It was the longest-distance repair job in history, and a triumph for the NASA engineers. But it
also highlighted the astonishing power of the techniques developed by American
Communications engineer Claude Shannon, who had died just a year earlier. Born in 1916 in
Petoskey, Michigan, Shannon showed an early talent for maths and for building gadgets, and
made breakthroughs in the foundations of computer technology when still a student. While at
Bell Laboratories, Shannon developed information theory, but shunned the resulting acclaim. In
the 1940s, he single-handedly created an entire science of communication which has since
inveigled its way into a host of applications, from DVDs to satellite communications to bar
codes - any area, in short, where data has to be conveyed rapidly yet accurately.
C This all seems light years away from the down-to-earth uses Shannon originally had for his
work, which began when he was a 22-year-old graduate engineering student at the prestigious
Massaehuaetts Institute of Technology in 1939. He set out with an apparently simple aim: to pin
down the precise meaning of the concept of ‘information’. The most basic form of information,
Shannon argued, is whether something is true or false - which can be captured in the binary
unit, or 'bit', of the form 1 or 0. Having identified this fundamental unit, Shannon set about
defining otherwise vague ideas about information and how to transmit it from place to place. In
the process he discovered something surprising: it is always possible to guarantee information
will get through random interference - 'noise’ - intact.
D Noise usually means unwanted sounds which interfere with genuine information. Information
theory generalises this idea via theorems that capture the effects of noise with mathematical
precision. In particular, Shannon showed that noise sets a limit on the rate at which information
can pass along communication channels while remaining error-free. This rate depends on the
relative strengths of the signal and noise travelling down the communication channel, and on its
capacity (its ‘bandwith’). The resulting limit, given in units of bits per second, is the absolute
maximum rate of error-free communication given signal strength and noise level. The trick,
Shannon showed, is to find ways of packaging up - ‘coding’ - information to cope with the
ravages of noise, while staying within the information-carrying capacity - 'bandwidth' - of the
communication system being used.
E Over the years scientists have devised many such coding methods, and they have proved crucial
in many technological feats. The Voyager spacecraft transmitted data using codes which added
one extra bit for every single bit of information; the result was an error rate of just one bit in
10,000 - and stunningly clear pictures of the planets. Other codes have become part of everyday
life - such as the Universal Product Code, or bar code, which uses a simple error-detecting
system that ensures supermarket check-out lasers can read the price even on, say, a crumpled
bag of crisps. As recently as 1993, engineers made a major breakthrough by discovering so-
called turbo codes - which come very close to Shannon's ultimate limit for the maximum rate
that data can be transmitted reliably, and now play a key role in the mobile videophone
revolution.
F Shannon also laid the foundations of more efficient ways of storing information, by stripping
out superfluous (‘redundant') bits from data which contributed little real information. As mobile
phone text messages like ‘I CN CU’ show, it is often possible to leave out a lot of data without
losing much meaning. As with error correction, however, there’s a limit beyond which
messages become too ambiguous. Shannon showed how to calculate this limit, opening the way
to the design of compression methods that cram maximum information into the minimum space.
Questions 23-28
Reading Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write your answers (A-F) in the numbered boxes.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 23-28 on your answer sheet.
23 an explanation of the factors affecting the transmission of information
24 an example of how unnecessary information can be omitted
25 a reference to Shannon’s attitude to fame
26 details of a machine capable of interpreting incomplete information
27 a detailed account of an incident involving information theory
28 a reference to what Shannon initially intended to achieve in his research
Write your answers here
23 24 25 26 27 28
Part 2: The table gives information about a restaurant’s average sales in three different branches in
2016. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons
where relevant. Write your answer to the task in at least 150 words.
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Part 3: Write an essay about 350 words on the following topic. (2.0. p.)
In some countries today, there is an attitude that “anyone can do it” in arts – music, literature,
acting, art, etc. As a result, people with no talent become rich and famous and genuine talent is
not valuated or appreciated.
Do you agree or disagree?
Use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and
relevant evidence.
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