Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 - 13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Money Transfers by Mobile

A. The ping of a text message has never sounded so sweet. In what is being touted as a world first, Kenya's biggest mobile operator is allowing subscribers to send cash to other phone users by SMS. Known as M-Pesa, or mobile money, the service is expected to revolutionise banking in a country where more than 80% of people are excluded from the formal financial sector. Apart from transferring cash - a service much in demand among urban Kenyans supporting relatives in rural areas - customers of the Safaricom network will be able to keep up to 50,000 shillings (£370) in a "virtual account" on their handsets.

B. Developed by Vodafone, which holds a 35% share in Safaricom, M-Pesa was formally launched in Kenya two weeks ago. More than 10,000 people have signed up for the service, with around 8 million shillings transferred so far, mostly in tiny denominations. Safaricom's executives are confident that growth will be strong in Kenya, and later across Africa. “We are effectively giving people ATM cards without them ever having to open a real bank account,” said Michael Joseph, chief executive of Safaricom, who called the money transfer concept the “next big thing” in mobile telephony.

C. M-Pesa's is simple. There is no need for a new handset or SIM card. To send money, you hand over the cash to a registered agent - typically a retailer - who credits your virtual account. You then send between 100 shillings (74p) and 35,000 shillings (£259) via text message to the desired recipient - even someone on a different mobile network - who cashes it at an agent by entering a secret code and showing ID. A commission of up to 170 shillings (£1.25) is paid by the recipient but it compares favourably with fees levied by the major banks, whose services are too expensive for most of the population.

D. Mobile phone growth in Kenya, as in most of Africa, has been remarkable, even among the rural poor. In June 1999, Kenya had 15,000 mobile subscribers. Today, it has nearly 8 million out of a population of 35 million, and the two operators' networks are as extensive as the access to banks is limited. Safaricom says it is not so much competing with financial services companies as filling a void. In time, M-Pesa will allow people to borrow and repay money, and make purchases. Companies will be able to pay salaries directly into workers' phones - something that has already attracted the interest of larger employers, such as the tea companies, whose workers often have to be paid in cash as they do not have bank accounts. There are concerns about security, but Safaricom insists that even if someone's phone is stolen, the PIN system prevents unauthorised withdrawals. Mr. Joseph said the only danger is sending cash to the wrong mobile number and the recipient redeeming it straight away.

E. The project is being watched closely by mobile operators around the world as a way of targeting the multibillion pound international cash transfer industry long dominated by companies such as Western Union and Moneygram. Remittances sent from nearly 200 million migrant workers to developing countries totalled £102 billion last year, according to the World Bank. The GSM Association, which represents more than 700 mobile operators worldwide, believes this could quadruple by 2012 if transfers by SMS become the norm. Vodafone has entered a partnership with Citigroup that will soon allow Kenyans in the UK to send money home via text message. The charge for sending £50 is expected to be about £3, less than a third of what some traditional services charge.

Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14 - 26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

Park the Car Permanently

A. More than a million people are likely to be disappointed by their experience of the Government's attempts to improve the democratic process. They may have signed an online petition against road pricing, but ministers are determined to push ahead with plans to make it more expensive to drive. The Government is convinced that this is the only way to reduce congestion and the environmental damage caused by motoring.

B. Why wait until you are forced off the road by costly charges? You may enjoy the convenience of your car, but the truth is that for huge numbers of people, owning a car makes little financial sense. You'd be far better off giving it up and relying on other forms of transport. "I'm 47 and I've never owned a car, despite having a job that requires me to travel all over the South-East to visit clients," says Donnachadh McCarthy, an environmental expert who specialises in advising people how to be greener. "A car is a huge financial commitment, as well as being a psychological addiction. Not owning a vehicle is far more practical than most people realise."

C. It may seem as if cars have never been cheaper. After all, it is now possible to buy a brand new car for less than £4,800 - the Perodua Kelisa, if you're interested. There are plenty of decent vehicles you can buy straight from the showroom for between £5,000 and £7,000. Of course, if you buy second-hand, the prices will be even lower. However, the falling purchase price of cars masks the fact that it has never been more expensive to own and run a vehicle. The estimate is that the cost of running a car rose by more than ten per cent last year alone. The annual cost of running your own vehicle is put at an average of £5,539, or £107 a week. While drivers who do less or more than the average mileage each year will spend correspondingly less or more, many of the costs of car ownership are fixed - and therefore unavoidable.

D. Depreciation - the fact that your vehicle loses a large chunk of its resale value each year - is one problem, accounting for £2,420 a year. The cost of finance packages, which most people have to resort to to pay for at least part of the price of a new car, has also been rising - to an average of £1,040 a year. Then there's insurance, maintenance, tax, and breakdown insurance, all of which will cost you broadly the same amount, however many miles you do. Only fuel costs are truly variable. While petrol prices are the most visible indicator of the cost of running a car, for the typical driver they account for less than one fifth of the real costs each year. In other words, leaving aside all the practical and psychological barriers to giving up your car, in financial terms, doing so makes sense for many people.

E. Take the cost of public transport, for example. In London, the most expensive city in the UK, the most expensive annual travel card, allowing travel in any zone at any time, costs just over £1,700. You could give up your car and still have thousands of pounds to spare to spend on occasional car hire. In fact, assuming that you have the most expensive travel card in London, you could hire a cheap car from a company, such as easyCar for about 30 weeks a year, and still be better off overall than if you own your own vehicle. Not that car hire is necessarily the most cost-effective option for people who are prepared to do without a car but may still need to drive occasionally.

F. Streetcar, one of several "car clubs" with growing numbers of members, reckons that using its vehicles twice a week, every week, for a year, would cost you just £700. Streetcar's model works very similarly to those of its main rivals, Citycarclub and Whizzgo. These three companies, which now operate in 20 of Britain's towns and cities, charge their members a refundable deposit - £150 at Streetcar - and then provide them with an electronic smart card. This enables members to get into the vehicles, which are left parked in set locations, and the keys are then found in the glove compartment. Members pay an hourly rate for the car - £4.95 is the cost at Streetcar - and return it to the same spot, or to a different designated parking place.

G. Car sharing is an increasingly popular option for people making the same journeys regularly - to and from work, for example. Many companies run schemes that help colleagues who live near to each other and work in the same place to contact each other so they can share the journey to work. Liftshare and Carshare are two national organisations that maintain online databases of people who would be prepared to team up. Other people may be able to replace part or all of their journey to work - or any journeys, for that matter - with low-cost transport such as a bicycle, or even by just walking. The more you can reduce your car use, however you gain access to it, the more you will save.

Reading Passage 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27 - 40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Low-Cost Lamps Light Rural India

Until three months ago, life in this humble village without electricity would come to a halt after sunset. Inside his mud-and-clay home, Ganpat Jadhav’s three children used to study in the dim, smoky glow of a kerosene lamp, when their monthly fuel quota of four litres dried up in just a fortnight, they had to strain their eyes using the light from a cooking fire. That all changed with the installation of low-cost, energy-efficient lamps that are powered entirely by the sun. The lights were installed by the Grameen Surya Bijli Foundation (GSBF), an Indian non-governmental organisation focused on bringing light to rural India. Some 100,000 Indian villages do not yet have electricity. The GSBF lamps use LEDs - light emitting diodes - that are four times more efficient than a normal bulb. After a $55 installation cost, solar energy lights the lamp free of charge. LED lighting, like cell phones, is another example of a technology whose low cost could allow the rural poor to leap into the 21st century.

As many as 1.5 billion people - nearly 80 million in India alone - light their houses using kerosene as the primary lighting media. The fuel is dangerous, dirty, and - despite being subsidised - consumes nearly four per cent of a typical rural Indian household's budget. A recent report by the Intermediate Technology Development Group suggests that indoor air pollution from such lighting media results in 1.6 million deaths worldwide every year. LED lamps, or more specifically white LEDs, are believed to produce nearly 200 times more useful light than a kerosene lamp and almost 50 times the amount of useful light of a conventional bulb. "This technology can light an entire rural village with less energy than that used by a single conventional 100-watt light bulb," says Dave Irvine-Halliday, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Calgary, Canada and the founder of Light up the World Foundation (LUTW). Founded in 1997, LUTW has used LED technology to bring light to nearly 10,000 homes in remote and disadvantaged corners of some 27 countries like India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bolivia, and the Philippines.

The technology, which is not yet widely known in India, faces some scepticism here. “LED systems are revolutionising rural lighting, but this isn't a magic solution to the world's energy problems,” says Ashok Jhunjhunwala, head of the electrical engineering department at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. In a scenario in which nearly 60 per cent of India's rural population uses 180 million tons of biomass per year for cooking via primitive wood stoves - which are smoky and provide only 10-15 per cent efficiency in cooking -Jhunjhunwala emphasises the need for a clean energy source, not just for lighting but for other domestic purposes as well. The Indian government in April launched an ambitious project to bring electricity to 112,000 rural villages in the next decade. However, the remote locations of the village will make reaching this goal difficult. A. K. Lakhina, the chairman of India's Rural Electrification Corporation, says the Indian government recognises the potential of LED lighting powered by solar technology, but expressed reservations about its high costs. "If only LEDs weren't imported but manufactured locally," he says, "and in bulk."

The lamps installed in nearly 300 homes by GSBF cost nearly half the price of other solar lighting systems. Jasjeet Singh Chaddha, the founder of the NGO, currently imports his LEDs from China. He wants to set up an LED manufacturing unit and a solar panel manufacturing unit in India. If manufactured locally, the cost of his LED lamp could plummet to $22, as they will not incur heavy import duties. "We need close to $5 million for this," he says. Mr. Chaddha says he has also asked the government to exempt the lamps from such duties, but to no avail. An entrepreneur who made his money in plastics, Chaddha, has poured his own money into the project, providing the initial installations free of charge. As he looks to make the project self-sustainable, he recognises that it is only urban markets -which have also shown an avid interest in LED lighting - that can pay. The rural markets in India cannot afford it, he says, until the prices are brought down. The rural markets would be able to afford it, says Mr. Irvine-Halliday, if they had access to microcredit. He says that in Tembisa, a shanty town in Johannesburg, he found that almost 10,000 homes spent more than $60 each on candles and paraffin every year. As calculations revealed, these families can afford to purchase a solid state lighting system in just over a year of paying per week what they would normally spend on candles and paraffin - if they have access to microcredit. LUTW is in the process of creating such a microcredit facility for South Africa.

In villages near Khadakwadi, the newly installed LED lamps are a subject of envy, even for those connected to the grid. Those connected to the grid have to face power cuts up to 6 or 7 hours a day. Constant energy shortages and blackouts are a common problem due to a lack of power plants, transmission, and distribution losses caused by old technology and illegal stealing of electricity from the grid. LED systems require far less maintenance, a longer life, and as villagers jokingly say, "no electricity bills". The lamps provided by GSBF have enough power to provide just four hours of light a day. However, that is enough for people to get their work done in the early hours of the night, and is more reliable than light generated off India's electrical grid. Villagers are educated by GSBF officials to make the most of the new lamps. An official from GSBF instructs Jadhav and his family to clean the lamp regularly. "Its luminosity and life will diminish if you let the dust settle on it," he warns them.

Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 - 13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Secret of Thailand's Success?

A. It is a question officials here in Asia are being posed more and more: Why are your economies so vibrant? Answers include young and swelling populations, decreased debt, growing cities, emerging middle-class consumer sectors, evolving markets and, of course, China's rise. Add this to that list: Women and their increasing role in Asia's economies. The idea is that the more opportunities women have, the more vibrant economies are and, consequently, the less need there is to amass a huge public debt to boost growth. It is an idea bolstered by a new survey by MasterCard International Inc., which compares the socio-economic level of women with men in Asia-Pacific nations. The gauge uses four key indicators: participation in the labour force, college education, managerial positions, and above-median income.

B. Which Asian nation is doing host when it comes to women's advancement? Thailand. It scored 92.3 of a possible 100, and according to MasterCard's index, 100 equals gender equality. The survey was based on interviews with 300 to 350 women in thirteen nations and national statistics. Malaysia came in second with a score of 86.2, while China came in third with 68.4. The average score in Asia was 67.7. At the bottom of the list is South Korea (45.5), followed by Indonesia (52.5), and Japan (54.5). Perhaps it is a bizarre coincidence, yet MasterCard's findings fit quite neatly with two important issues in Asia: economic leadership and debt. Thailand, Malaysia, and China are three economies widely seen as the future of Asia. Thailand's economic boom in recent years has prompted many leaders in the region to look at its growth strategy. Malaysia, which has a female central bank governor, is one of Asia's rising economic powers. China, of course, is the world's hottest economy, and one that is shaking up trade patterns and business decisions everywhere.

C. Something all three economies have in common is an above-average level of female participation. What the three worst ranked economies share are severe long-term economic challenges of high levels of debt and a female workforce that is being neglected. Research in economic history is very conclusive on the role of women in economic growth and development, says Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, an economic adviser to MasterCard. The more extensive women's participation at all areas of economic activities, the higher the probability for stronger economic growth. That, Hedrick-Wong says, means societies and economies that consistently fail to fully incorporate women's ability and talent in businesses, and the workplace will suffer the consequences. Take Korea, which has been walking in place economically in recent years. Immediately following the 1997— 1998 Asian financial crisis, Korea became a regional role model as growth boomed and unemployment fell. Yet a massive increase in household debt left consumers overexposed and growth slowed.

D. Maybe it is a just coincidence that Korea also ranks low on measures of gender equality published by the United Nations. As of 2003, for example, it ranked below Honduras, Paraguay, Mauritius, and Ukraine in terms of women's economic and political empowerment. Utilising more of its female workforce would deepen Korea's labour pool and increase potential growth rates in the economy. The same goes for Japan. The reluctance of Asia's biggest economy to increase female participation and let more women into the executive suite exacerbates its biggest long-term challenge: a declining birth rate. In 2003, the number of children per Japanese woman fell to a record low of 1.29 versus about 2 in the early 1970s. Preliminary government statistics suggest the rate declined further in 2004. The trend is nothing short of a crisis for a highly indebted nation of 126 million that has yet to figure out how to fund the national pension system down the road. Yet Japan has been slow to realise that for many women, the decision to delay childbirth is a form of rebellion against societal expectations to have children and become housewives.

E. It may be 2005, yet having children is a career-ending decision for millions of bright, ambitious, and well-educated Japanese. Until corrected, Japan's birth rate will drop and economic growth will lag. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was absolutely right earlier this month when he said no other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity than the empowerment of women. Here, in Thailand, the government is getting some decent marks in this regard, and the economy's 6 per cent-plus growth rate may be a direct result. Thailand still has a long way to go. Yet the Bank of Thailand's deputy governor, Tarisa Watanagase, is a woman, as are seven of nine assistant governors. Then there's Jada Wattanasiritham, who runs Siam Commercial Bank Plc, Thailand's fourth-biggest lender. How many female chief executives can you name in Japan or Korea? Looked at broadly in Asia, MasterCard's survey is on to something. It is that giving women more opportunities to contribute to an economy is not just about fairness, but dollars and sense, too.

Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14 - 26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

Patients Are a Virtue

A. Despite conference jeers, job cuts, and a financial crisis, health secretary Patricia Hewitt may find a reason to smile this week, as the NHS (British National Health Service) was named one of the top places to work by students. Among engineering, science, and IT students, the health service was ranked second in this year's Univer-sum UK graduate survey of ideal employers, a leap of 54 places from last year. The annual survey, conducted in the UK since 1997, canvassed the opinions of more than 7, 700 final and penultimate-year students studying for degrees in business, engineering, science. IT, and the humanities, at 39 universities, between January and March this year.

B. Each student was presented with a list of 130 employers, nominated by students through a separate process, from which they selected the five they considered to be ideal employers. The Universum list is based on the frequency of an organisation being selected as an ideal employer, following a weighting process. This year, government departments and public sector organisations dominated the top spots, with the BBC ranked first among humanities, engineering, science, and IT students, retaining its place from last year, and coining third for those studying business. Among humanities students, the BBC was followed closely by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Civil Service fast stream. The Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence were not far behind, ranked fifth and sixth respectively. As well as the NHS, engineering, science, and IT students favoured the Environment Agency, which leapt 83 places, from 86 in 2005 to number three this year. Meanwhile, business students voted accountancy giants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as their favoured employer, followed by HSBC.

C. At a London awards ceremony sponsored by the Guardian, Foluke Ajayi, head of NHS careers at NHS employers, said its success this year reflected the reality of the health service, which is the third largest employer in the world and the largest in Europe. "We employ people in other clinical areas, such as health care. We employ IT managers, engineers, architects," she said, adding that the health service is no longer seen as a "second choice" career. "People recognise that they can give something back to the community, but still develop a worthwhile career."

D. Sarah Churchman, director of student recruitment and diversity at PwC, said her company's success is down to a good campus presence, its commitment to invest in its employees and, with offices around the world, the chance to travel, something which just under half of the students polled said was an important factor when it came to looking for work. One of the big four accountancy firms, PwC is not into gimmicks, and it does not offer freebies but, said Churchman, it does offer "a solid foundation" for anyone wanting a career in business. "We sell our people skills, so we are interested in building skills. We're not selling something, we invest in our people," she added.

E. Further down the rankings, but still with reason to celebrate, was John Lewis, which matched bumper sales this year with a leap from 111th place in 2005 to 26th among this year's humanities students. Sky found itself in 12th place, up from 104th last year, and the Environment Agency also proved popular among this student group, rising from 138th in 2005 to 7th this year. Among the business fraternity, shell saw a reversal of fortunes, rising to 30th place after last year's 70th position. There were a few dramatic drops in the rankings. The Bank of England fell from 14th in 2005 to 27th this year among humanities students, although it retained its mid-table position among those studying business. British Airways also saw a slight dip, as did McKinsey & Co, which dropped from 11th to 22nd among business undergraduates.

F. Perhaps more surprisingly, this year was the first appearance in the rankings of Teach First, a small charity launched three years ago that aims to create the "leaders of the future " by encouraging top graduates who would not normally consider a career in teaching to commit to work in "challenging" secondary schools for at least two years. The organisation came straight in at number eight among humanities students and was voted 22nd by those studying engineering, science, and IT. James Darley, director of graduate recruitment at Teach First, said he was "bowled over" by the news. "We were not expecting this. We're a registered charity, only able to physically go to 15 universities."

G. The scheme, based on one run in the US, has the backing of more than 80 businesses, including Deloitte and HSBC. During their two years, candidates undertake leadership training and emerge from the programme with a range of skills and experiences. "We hope in the long term they will be our ambassadors, as we call them, in politics, industry, charities, who will have done it and continue to support the educationally disadvantaged," adds Darley. This year, 260 graduates are expected to take up the Teach first challenge in schools in London and Manchester, More are expected over the coining years, as the scheme expands to Birmingham and three other cities by 2008. Of the first set of recruits to complete the programme, half have gone on to work for "some amazing companies", while the other half have chosen to stay on in their schools for a further year - 20% in leadership roles.

H. While more than half of students were concerned about achieving a good work life balance, a third said they wanted a job that would challenge them. Although male Students tended to focus more on the practical aspects of work, such as "building a sound financial base", women, particularly those studying for humanities degrees, had a more idealistic outlook, saying making a contribution to society was a key career goal. Almost half of all students said that paid overtime was a key part of any company compensation package. However, business students said that the most important compensation, apart from salary, was performance-related bonuses, while important considerations for humanities students were retirement plans. Working overseas also scored highly among those surveyed this year, with 45% of business students, and 44% of humanities students, listing it as a priority. Ethical considerations and corporate social responsibilities were also mentioned, with a large percentage of humanities and engineering, science and IT students saying it was a key consideration when it came to choosing an employer.

Reading Passage 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27 - 40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Rise of the Robots

If you are into technology, you are living in wonderful times. Things are developing in leaps and bounds, especially gadgets. Let us look at the technology that is set to break through.

CELESTRON SKYSCOUT
Backyard stargazing goes seriously hi-tech with the Celestron SkyScout, which was judged to be the Best of Innovations at the New York Consumer Electronics Show press preview event in November. It is not difficult to see why. The SkyScout is a hand-held viewing device that is capable of finding and identifying more than 6,000 celestial objects visible to the naked eye, thus transforming the night sky into your own personal planetarium. Using GPS technology and a substantial celestial database, the camcorder-sized SkyScout enables stargazers to point the device at any visible object in the sky, press a button, and then listen to a commentary. For the truly celestially challenged, if you want to view a star or planet but do not have a clue which bit of the heavens to look in, do not despair: the SkyScout's "locate" feature will guide you to it using illuminated arrows in the viewfinder.

NOKIA N91
This amazing mobile jukebox is due out early in 2006. Nokia's N91 looks set to be in a class of its own as a multimedia mobile phone. It will play music, take photos, surf the web and download videos, store contact details, and generally organise your life. The robust little phone, resplendent in its stainless steel case, is the first Nokia to be equipped with a hard drive (4Gb), which means that it can store up to 3,000 songs. The N91, which has a hi-fi quality headset and remote control, supports a wide range of digital music formats, including MP3, Real, WAV, and WMAA. It uses wireless technology to allow users to find and buy music from the operator's music store. You can also drag and drop music from your PC to the N91 and manage and share playlists. If you can find the time, you can get on the blower, too.

SEIKO SPECTRUM E-PAPER WATCH
The Seiko Spectrum is no ordinary wristwatch. At first glance, it is an attractive and futuristic bracelet-style watch. Look closer, however, and you will notice that its display is unlike any you have seen before. Rather than the usual LCD screen, the display is made of "e-paper" - from the electronic paper pioneers E Ink Corp - and shows a constantly changing mosaic pattern along with the time. Because e-paper is so flexible and thin, it allows the display to curve round the wrist along with the watch band - something conventional liquid-crystal displays cannot do, as they have to be flat. Seiko says the e-paper display not only produces far better contrast than an LCD screen, but requires no power to retain an image, so the batteries last longer. Seiko is releasing only 500 of the watches next month, priced at about £1,250 - so you'd better lose no time.

HIGH-DEFINITION TV
HDTV, already available in the United States, Japan, and Australia, will hit the UK in 2006. When you watch a programme filmed in the HD format, you will see a much sharper, clearer and more vibrant image. This is due partly to the way a programme is filmed, but also to the high-definition TV set itself, which uses either 720 or 1,080 visible rows of pixels (depending on which format the individual HDTV uses) to display images, compared to the 576 rows of pixels used in current sets.

ELECTROLUX TRILOBITE 2.0 ROBOT VACUUM CLEANER
Next time you are expecting visitors, do not bother to vacuum first - wait until they arrive, and then entertain them with this little gadget. The Electrolux Trilobite 2.0 is a robotic vacuum cleaner that navigates its way around your floors using ultrasound, just like a bat. It pings out ultrasound vibrations at surfaces to create a map of the room, which it remembers for future cleaning assignments. The Trilobite has no problem avoiding collision with things placed on the floor. Special magnetic strips are placed in doorways, near stairs and other openings. These act as a wall, keeping the Trilobite in the room. You can also programme it to glide round when you're at work or after you've gone to bed. When Electrolux introduced the original Trilobite in 2001, it was voted among the 100 most innovative designs (though whether the judges were dedicated couch potatoes, and thus biased, we were not able to discover). The name comes from the hard-shelled sea creature from the Paleozoic era (between 250 million and 560 million years ago) that roamed the ocean floor feeding on particles and small animals.

HONDA ASIMO ROBOT
Need an extra pair of hands around the office? Look no further: this month, the Honda Motor Company showcased its second-generation humanoid robot, Asimo. The machine has come a long way since its first incarnation five years ago. The 1.3 metre-tall droid is now capable of performing a variety of office tasks, including reception duties, serving drinks and acting as an information guide, as well as making deliveries. Using multiple sensors, Asimo has the ability to recognise the surrounding environment and interact with people using integrated circuit tags. It can walk and run at a fair pace, and push a cart. Honda plans to start using Asimo's receptionist functions at its Wako Building in Japan early in 2006, and it is hoped it will become available for leasing afterwards. It could soon be pushing a cart at an office near you.

Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on this passage.

Sleeping on the job

North Americans are not a people of the siesta. There is a tendency to associate afternoon naps with laziness and non-productivity. Latin Americans and some in European cultures take a different view. In Mexico and Greece, for example, it is customary in close businesses between noon and about 4:00 pm - siesta time. Recent studies are showing that if you can take a 15 to 30-minute nap while at work in the afternoon, you'll be more alert, more energetic, happier doing what you do, more productive and therefore more likely to get ahead. Napping on the job is not yet a trend but there is serious talk in academic circles about the merits of 'power napping'.

By some estimate, the average American collects an annual 'sleep debt' of S00 hours - subtracting from an assumed norm of eight hours a night. Two out of three Americans get less than eight hours of sleep a night during the work week, according to a recent study by the National Sleep Foundation in Washington. Forty percent say they're so tired that it interferes with their daily activities. Sleep researcher William Anthony, a professor of psychology at Boston University, says fatigue is a significant problem in modern society, he says sleepiness is a leading cause of auto accidents, second only to drunkness. All that drowsiness costs an estimated 818 billion annually in lost productivity. 'We have a simple message,' says Professor Anthony, 'People should be allowed to nap at their breaks. The rationale is a productivity one - workers are sleepy, and when they're sleepy on the job they're not productive.'

Some companies are encouraging sleep at work, primarily for safety. The Metropolitan Transit Authority, which runs the New York subway system and two suburban railroads, is considering power naps for its train operators and bus drivers. Another railway has started letting its train operators take nap breaks of up to 45 minutes but only when trains are stopped at designated spots off the main lines and dispatchers have been notified. Some overseas air carriers permit airline pilots, when not on duty, to nap in the cockpit. Airlines in the United States have not accepted this practice yet.

According to the Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming: 'There is a biologically-based tendency to fall asleep in mid-afternoon just as there is a tendency to fall asleep at night. Moreover if sleep the night before is reduced or disturbed for any reason, a nap the subsequent afternoon is not only more likely to occur, but it can also relieve sleepiness and increase alertness.' The nap zone, documented in numerous studies, is typically between noon and 3.00 pm. Some people power through this natural slowdown with caffeine or sugar but if employers allowed naps, the benefits would be improvements in mood and performance, especially in mid-afternoon. Workers would concentrate better and persevere in tasks longer. Workers commonly sneak naps even without permission but some companies have begun encouraging naps as part of their policies on boosting production. One US distributor, is opening a 2,000-square-foot nap facility that provides beds for up to 20 of its 225 workers at a time. A company in Japan sets up tents in business offices provides eyeshades and ear plugs and encourages employees to snooze in the middle of the work day. According to Professor Anthony, 'You're not going to see napping at traditional types of operations ... but in 21st century-style operations, this isn't going to be a perk. It's going to have more to do with productivity. Smart employers are understanding that their employees need rest to do their best.'

Some suspect that corporate naptime, like other perks, is just a way to keep people at the office longer. On the other hand, growing flexibility in hours, for some workers, is allowing nap times to become more common. With eleven million Americans telecommuting and another forty million withking out of their bonus full- or part-time, office hours are basically as long as you can stay awake. One thing is sure: longer commutes, more intense, stressful workday and higher production demands are taking a toll. So, with Americans sleeping, less and working, longer hours, some employers are warming up to the idea that a little nap in the middle of the day can be good for business.

Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on this passage.

Homeopathy

A. Homeopathy is an alternative system of medicine, founded in the early 19th century by a German physician, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann. Since 1880, homeopathy has experienced a strong resurgence of interest in North and South America as well as in Europe. Surveys indicate that more than a third of French physicians have prescribed homeopathic remedies and almost 50 percent of British physicians have referred patients for homeopathic treatment.

B. Hahnemann's discovery of the principle of homeopathy was accidental. After taking some quinine, he noticed that he developed malaria-like symptoms. Since malaria patients were treated with quinine, he speculated that possibly malaria is cured by quinine because it causes malaria-like symptoms in healthy people. He decided to explore his theory by testing other substances used as medicine at the time, such as arsenic and belladonna. His tests were conducted by either taking the substances internally himself or by administering them to healthy volunteers and then recording all of the symptoms the volunteers experienced. He continued his experiments on a wide range of natural substances, often toxic. These recorded results created 'drug pictures' which formed the basis for the new system of medicine. The next step was to give the tested substances to patients suffering from the same group of symptoms represented by the drug picture recorded. The results were incredible. People were being cured from diseases that had never been cured before. He condensed his theory into a single Latin phrase: similia similibus curentur (let likes be cured by likes). This means that a disease can be cured by a medicine which produces in a healthy person, symptoms similar to those experienced by the patient.

C. The process of making remedies is very precise. A homeopathic remedy is normally a single substance. The substances may be made from plants, minerals and even animals, for example snake venom and cuttlefish ink. To make remedies, the raw material is dissolved in a mixture that contains approximately 90% alcohol and 10% water. The mixture is left to stand for 2 to 4 weeks, shaken occasionally then strained. The resulting liquid or tincture is then diluted according to very specific measures to a factor of 1:100. For example, to produce a remedy called 1c potency or strength, one drop of the tincture is added to 99 drops of alcohol/water mixture. To produce a 2c potency, one drop of the 1c mixture is added to 99 drops of alcohol/water mixture. Between each mixture the remedy is shaken vigorously, Hahnemann believed that through this process, the energy of the substance was released. Once the remedy has been diluted beyond a 12c potency, it is unlikely that even a molecule of the original substance remains. Yet, ironically, the more dilute the remedy, the stronger it is. This makes no sense in light of present-day science but regardless of what science tells us is impossible, in practice, the higher the dilution the stronger and more lasting the effect.

D. It is this use of high dilutions that has given rise to controversy. Many conventional doctors claim that homeopathy functions only as a placebo because the dosage is so small. However, the clinical experience of homeopathy shows that this tiny dose can be effective; it works on unconscious people and infants, and it even works on animals. Controlled clinical studies performed by medical researchers are demonstrating that homeopathy can be an effective method of treatment for many diseases.

E. The most important part of homeopathic treatment lies in the lengthy interview which the homeopath conducts with the patient. The idea behind this one to two hour consultation is to build up a psychological, emotional and physical history of the patient, to discover the underlying patterns of disease. The homeopath then decides which medicine to prescribe based on the closest match between the patient's symptoms and the known symptoms elicited by the medicine in a healthy body. A single dose is given for the shortest period of time necessary to stimulate the body's healing power.

F. How does the concept of homeopathy differ from that of conventional medicine? Very simply, homeopathy attempts to stimulate the body to recover itself. In-stead of looking upon the symptoms as something wrong which must be set right, the homeopath sees them as signs of the way the body is attempting to help itself. Another basic difference between conventional medical therapy and homeopathy is in the role of medication. In much of conventional therapy the illness is controlled through regular use of medical substances. If the medication is withdrawn, the person returns to illness. For example, a person who takes a pill for high blood pressure every day is not undergoing a cure but is only controlling the symptoms. Homeopathy s aim is the cure: 'the complete restoration of perfect health,' as Dr. Hahnemann said.

G. Homeopathy has made significant progress in treating diseases which orthodox medicine finds difficult. Best at dealing with inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, skin conditions, migraines and respiratory problems linked to allergies, it has also proved highly successful at treating asthma. But homeopathy is not an appropriate treatment for degenerative diseases such as emphysema. It cannot treat diseases which destroy tissue, although it can still be beneficial if used in combination with other treatments. Two of the main advantages of homeopathy are the low cost of the medications and the rarity of adverse reactions. The medicines are inexpensive, safe, and easy to use, so people can learn to handle many of the common illnesses for which they currently seek medical help. The resulting savings in costs and the increase in personal independence represent a significant contribution to health care

Reading Passage 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on this passage.

The hemp revival

The hemp plant, one of the world's oldest industrial resources, is back. The rediscovery of this renewable resource is making it the fibre of choice for future textiles, personal care products, building materials, paper and fuel. Hemp has been grown for paper, textiles, food and medicine throughout human history. The earliest known woven fabric, made of hemp, dates back to the eighth millennium (8000-7000 BC). The majority of all sails, clothes, tents, rugs, towels, paper, rope, twine, art canvas, paints, varnishes and lighting oil were made from hemp. Hemp seeds were regularly used as a source of food and protein for centuries.

Hemp's drastic decline in use and importance within a matter of fifty years is widely-considered to have been brought about by the timber and petrochemical industries in America. By the mid-1930s, changes in technology were beginning to impact on the hemp industry. Mechanical stripping equipment and machines to conserve hemp's high-cellulose pulp became available and affordable. Timber and paper holding companies stood to lose billions of dollars if hemp were to be grown on a large scale. A resurgence of the hemp industry also threatened the emerging petro-chemical companies which had patented the chemicals for pulp processing. Newspaper articles began to appear, linking hemp with violent crime. The term used, however, was 'marijuana' to distance it from hemp used for industrial purposes. Because few people realised that marijuana and hemp come from the same plant species, virtually nobody suspected that the Marijuana Prohibition of 1938 would destroy the hemp industry.

Supporting the theory that marijuana was banned to destroy the hemp industry, were two articles written just before the Marijuana Prohibition, claiming that hemp was on the verge of becoming a super crop. These articles, which appeared in well-respected magazines, praised the usefulness and potential of hemp. 'Hemp can be used to produce more than 25,000 products', and 'hemp will prove, for both farmer and public, the most profitable and desirable crop that can be grown.' This was the first time that 'billion dollar' was used to describe the value of a crop. Less than one year after these articles were written, the Marijuana Prohibition took effect. To what extent a conspiracy was involved is still being debated, but the important thing is that for thousands of years, hemp was used extensively. Then over a short period, it became illegal in many parts of the world.

Now, however, the focus is on the development of hemp as an industrial resource. Initially, a distinction needs to be made between the two types of hemp. 'Cannabis' has evolved into two basic species. Plants grown for fibre and seed are universally called hemp. Cannabis grown for its drug content is commonly called marijuana or drug cannabis. Drug-type cannabis varies widely in THC content from approximately 1-2% in unselected strains to 10% in the best modern 'varieties'. (as cited from Watson 1994). Hemp contains virtually none of the active ingredients of drug-type cannabis (THC), it is not feasible to 'get high' on hemp, and most marijuana produces very low-quality fibre. Hemp should never be confused with marijuana, as their roles cannot be reversed.

It is evident that hemp is an extraordinary fibre. Both stems and seeds can be utilised. Most significantly, hemp can be grown without pesticides and herbicides. The plant also has the ability to suppress weeds and soil-borne diseases. Based on the hemp industries which have been established overseas, there is a large demand for hemp products and hemp is proving to be a highly profitable industry. On an annual basis, one acre of hemp will produce as much fibre as 2 to 3 acres of cotton. The fibre is stronger and softer than cotton, lasts twice as long and will not mildew. Cotton grows only in warm climates and requires more water and more fertiliser than hemp as well as large quantities of pesticide and herbicide.

Hemp can also be used to produce fibreboard that is stronger and lighter than wood, and is fire retardant. Unlike paper from wood pulp, hemp paper contains no dioxin, or other toxic residue, and a single acre of hemp can produce the same amount of paper as four acres of trees. The tree take 20 years to harvest and hemp takes a single season. In warm climates hemp can be harvested two or even three times a year. On an annual basis, one acre of hemp will produce as much paper as 2 to 4 acres of trees. From tissue paper to cardboard, all types of paper products can be produced from hemp. The quality of hemp paper is superior to tree-based paper. Hemp paper will last hundreds of years without degrading and it can be recycled many more times than tree-based paper.

Today, industrialised nations around the world are waking up to the enormous potential of hemp. While some countries, like China and India, have never had laws against hemp cultivation, others are legalising industrial hemp after many years of lumping together with marijuana. The products and fabrics that are emerging from the international hemp industry are finding strong demand in an eco-aware global community. Hemp is indeed an agricultural crop for the twenty-first century

Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on this passage.

Sleeping on the job

North Americans are not a people of the siesta. There is a tendency to associate afternoon naps with laziness and non-productivity. Latin Americans and some in European cultures take a different view. In Mexico and Greece, for example, it is customary in close businesses between noon and about 4:00 pm - siesta time. Recent studies are showing that if you can take a 15 to 30-minute nap while at work in the afternoon, you'll be more alert, more energetic, happier doing what you do, more productive and therefore more likely to get ahead. Napping on the job is not yet a trend but there is serious talk in academic circles about the merits of 'power napping'.

By some estimate, the average American collects an annual 'sleep debt' of S00 hours - subtracting from an assumed norm of eight hours a night. Two out of three Americans get less than eight hours of sleep a night during the work week, according to a recent study by the National Sleep Foundation in Washington. Forty percent say they're so tired that it interferes with their daily activities. Sleep researcher William Anthony, a professor of psychology at Boston University, says fatigue is a significant problem in modern society, he says sleepiness is a leading cause of auto accidents, second only to drunkness. All that drowsiness costs an estimated 818 billion annually in lost productivity. 'We have a simple message,' says Professor Anthony, 'People should be allowed to nap at their breaks. The rationale is a productivity one - workers are sleepy, and when they're sleepy on the job they're not productive.'

Some companies are encouraging sleep at work, primarily for safety. The Metropolitan Transit Authority, which runs the New York subway system and two suburban railroads, is considering power naps for its train operators and bus drivers. Another railway has started letting its train operators take nap breaks of up to 45 minutes but only when trains are stopped at designated spots off the main lines and dispatchers have been notified. Some overseas air carriers permit airline pilots, when not on duty, to nap in the cockpit. Airlines in the United States have not accepted this practice yet.

According to the Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming: 'There is a biologically-based tendency to fall asleep in mid-afternoon just as there is a tendency to fall asleep at night. Moreover if sleep the night before is reduced or disturbed for any reason, a nap the subsequent afternoon is not only more likely to occur, but it can also relieve sleepiness and increase alertness.' The nap zone, documented in numerous studies, is typically between noon and 3.00 pm. Some people power through this natural slowdown with caffeine or sugar but if employers allowed naps, the benefits would be improvements in mood and performance, especially in mid-afternoon. Workers would concentrate better and persevere in tasks longer. Workers commonly sneak naps even without permission but some companies have begun encouraging naps as part of their policies on boosting production. One US distributor, is opening a 2,000-square-foot nap facility that provides beds for up to 20 of its 225 workers at a time. A company in Japan sets up tents in business offices provides eyeshades and ear plugs and encourages employees to snooze in the middle of the work day. According to Professor Anthony, 'You're not going to see napping at traditional types of operations ... but in 21st century-style operations, this isn't going to be a perk. It's going to have more to do with productivity. Smart employers are understanding that their employees need rest to do their best.'

Some suspect that corporate naptime, like other perks, is just a way to keep people at the office longer. On the other hand, growing flexibility in hours, for some workers, is allowing nap times to become more common. With eleven million Americans telecommuting and another forty million withking out of their bonus full- or part-time, office hours are basically as long as you can stay awake. One thing is sure: longer commutes, more intense, stressful workday and higher production demands are taking a toll. So, with Americans sleeping, less and working, longer hours, some employers are warming up to the idea that a little nap in the middle of the day can be good for business.

Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-28 which are based on this passage.

Just relax ...

A. Hypnosis is an intriguing and fascinating process. A trance-like mental state is induced in one person by another, who appears to have the power to command that person to obey instructions without question. Hypnotic experiences were described by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, whilst references to deep sleep and anaesthesia have been found in the Bible and in the Jewish Talmud. In the mid-1700s, Franz Mesmer, an Austrian physician, developed his theory of 'animal magnetism', which was the belief that the cause of disease was the 'improper distribution of invisible magnetic fluids'. Mesmer used water tubs and magnetic rods to direct these supposed fluids to his patients. In 1784, a French commission studied Mesmer's claims, and concluded that these 'cures' were only imagined by the patients. However, people continued to believe in this process of 'mesmerism' and it was soon realised that successful results could be achieved, but without the need for magnets and water.

B. The term hypnotism was first used by James Braid, a British physician who studied suggestion and hypnosis in the mid-1800s. He demonstrated that hypnosis differed from sleep, that it was a physiological response and not the result of secret powers. During this same period, James Esdaile, a Scottish doctor working in India, used hypnotism instead of anaesthetic in over 200 major surgical operations, including leg amputations. Later that century, a French neurologist, Jean Charcot, successfully experimented with hypnosis in his clinic for nervous disorders.

C. Since then, scientists have shown that the state of hypnosis is a natural human behaviour, which can affect psychological, social and/or physical experiences. The effects of hypnotism depend on the ability, willingness and motivation of the person being hypnotised. Although hypnosis has been compared to dreaming and sleepwalking, it is not actually related to sleep. It involves a more active and intense mental concentration of the person being hypnotised. Hypnotised people can talk, write, and walk about and they are usually fully aware of what is being said and done.

D. There are various techniques used to induce hypnosis. The best-known is a series of simple suggestions repeated continuously in the same tone of voice. The subject is instructed to focus their attention on an object or fixed point, while being told to relax, breathe deeply, and allow the eyelids to grow heavy and close. As the person responds, their state of attention changes, and this altered state often leads to other changes. For example, the person may experience different levels of awareness, consciousness, imagination, memory and reasoning or become more responsive to suggestions. Additional phenomena may be produced or eliminated such as blushing, sweating, paralysis, muscle tension or anaesthesia. Although these changes can occur with hypnosis, none of these experiences is unique to it. People who are very responsive to hypnosis are also more responsive to Suggestions when they are not hypnotised. This responsiveness increases during hypnotism. This explains why hypnosis takes only a few seconds for some, whilst other people cannot be easily hypnotised.

E. It is a common misunderstanding that hypnotists are able to force people to perform criminal or any other acts against their will. In fact, subjects can resist suggestions, and they retain their ability to distinguish right from wrong. This misunderstanding is often the result of public performances where subjects perform ridiculous or highly embarrassing actions at the command of the hypnotist. These people are usually instructed not to recall their behaviour after re-emerging from the hypnotic state, so it appears that they were powerless while hypnotised. The point to remember, however, is that these individuals chose to participate, and the success; of hypnotism depends on the willingness of a person to be hypnotised.

F. Interestingly, there are different levels of hypnosis achievable. Thus deep hypnosis can be induced to allow anaesthesia for surgery, childbirth or dentistry. This contrasts to a lighter state of hypnosis, which deeply relaxes the patient who will then follow simple directions. This latter state may be used to treat mental health problems, as it allows patients to feel calm while simultaneously thinking about distressing feelings or painful memories. Thus patients can learn new responses to situations or come up with solutions to problems. This can help recovery from psychological conditions such as anxiety, depression or phobias. Sometimes, after traumatic incidents, memory of the events may be blocked. For example, some soldiers develop amnesia (loss of memory) as a result of their experiences during wartime. Through hypnosis these repressed memories can be retrieved and treated. A variation of this treatment involves age regression, when the hypnotist takes the patient back to a specific age. In this way patients may remember events and feelings from that time, which may be affecting their current well-being.

G. Physicians also have made use of the ability of a hypnotised person to remain in a given position for long periods of time. In one case, doctors had to graft skin onto a patient's badly damaged foot. First, skin from the person's abdomen was grafted onto his arm; then the graft was transferred to his foot. With hypnosis, the patient held his arm tightly in position over his abdomen for three weeks, then over his foot for four weeks. Even though these positions were unusual, the patient at no time felt uncomfortable!

H. Hypnosis occasionally has been used with witnesses and victims of crime to enable people to remember important clues, such as a criminal's physical appearance or other significant details that might help to solve a crime. However, as people can. both lie and make mistakes while hypnotised, the use of hypnotism in legal situations can cause serious problems. Also hypnosis cannot make a person divulge secret information if they don't want to. This was confirmed by the Council on Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association, which, in 1985 reported that memories refreshed through, hypnosis may include inaccurate information, false memories, and confabulation (fact and fantasy combined).