Reading passage 1

A. Getting obese patients to lose weight is tricky to begin with, but doctors may have a bigger battle than they thought: many clinically obese men and women think they're already at a healthy weight. In a study of 2,056 obese people in Dallas County (all participants had a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or higher), researchers asked each participant to look at nine illustrations of bodies, from very thin to very obese. The volunteers were asked to pick their ideal shape along with the one that most closely resembled their own body. About 165 people, or 8% of the group, chose ideal body shapes that were the same or bigger than their own, suggesting a misunderstanding of healthy weight. B. Level of education or money had no bearing on people's self-assessments, but race did: 14% of black participants had distorted body image, preferring an obese form, compared with 11% of Hispanics and just 2% of white respondents. C. People who thought they looked good also said they felt good and were unconcerned about their health. Reuters reports: People who misperceived their body size were happier with their health, and felt healthier, than those who did recognize their obesity; they were also more likely to think they were at low risk of developing high blood pressure or diabetes or having a heart attack during their lifetimes. In fact, two-thirds of people with body size misperception thought they were at low risk of becoming obese. D. The study "points to really a lack of understanding about the effects of obesity," [Dr. Tiffany M.] Powell [of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre] told Reuters Health. At the same time, she added, "you walk a fine line, because you don't want people to necessarily have an unhealthy body image, but you also want people to understand that they need to lose weight." A healthy acceptance of one's own body is undoubtedly critical to good self-esteem. But a lack of awareness of one's own obesity can lead to undiagnosed obesity-related conditions including sleep apnea, high blood pressure and diabetes. E. The findings bring to mind a famous 2007 study by Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and James Fowler, a political scientist at University of California, San Diego, that found that the more exposure a person had to obesity in the form of fat friends the more likely that person was to become obese himself or herself, by 57%. The researchers called it a "contagion effect," and found that obesity spread more efficiently through networks of friends than through family members or neighbors. TIME reported: F. The obvious question is, Why? Spouses share meals and a backyard, but the researchers found a much smaller risk of gaining weight a 37% increase when one spouse became obese. Siblings share genes, but their influence, too, was much smaller, increasing each other's risk 40%. Fowler believes the effect has much more to do with social norms: whom we look to when considering appropriate social behavior. Having fat friends makes being fat seem more acceptable. "Your spouse may not be the person you look to when you're deciding what kind of body image is appropriate, how much to eat or how much to exercise," Fowler says. Nor do we necessarily compare ourselves to our siblings. "We get to choose our friends," says. "We don't get to choose our families."

G. Similarly, the author of the new Texas study theorized that the high rate of obesity in the U.S., where two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese, has helped normalize obesity in the public's perception. Powell told Reuters: "There is this tendency that if everyone around you looks a certain way, you either want to look that way or you're comfortable looking the way you are." The good news, from a public-health perspective, is that if the contagion effect holds true for weight gain, it may also work in the opposite direction, helping networks of friends lose weight and get healthy. Source: Time Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 to 14 which are based on Reading Passage 1 Questions 1 to 7 Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs A G. From the list of headings below, choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph. Write the appropriate numbers I ix in boxes 1 7 on your answer sheet.

i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix.

The deceptive idea. The obvious question. Level of education or money. A misunderstanding of healthy weight. The findings. Unconcerned about their health. The difference in enthusiasm. The need to lose weight. Powell told Reuters.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Paragraph A Paragraph B Paragraph C Paragraph D Paragraph E Paragraph F Paragraph G

Questions 8 10 Choose the correct letters, A, B, C or D

Write your answers in boxes 8 10 on your answer sheet. 8 Two-thirds of adults are overweight or A. B. C. D. 9 A. B. C. D. 10 A. B. C. D. Obese. Thin. Underweight. Skinny. Two-thirds of people with body size misperception thought they were at low risk of Becoming obese. Becoming thin. Becoming overweight. Losing weight. Many clinically obese men and women think they're already at An unhealthy weight. A healthy weight. Disease. A high risk level.

Questions 11 14 Complete each of the following statements (questions 11 14) with the best endings A G from the box below Write the appropriate letters A G in boxes 11 14 on your answer sheet. 11 Spouses share meals and 12 Level of education or money had no bearing on 13 Obesity spread more efficiently 14 People who thought they looked good also said

A B C D E F G

Low ponderous beams above. They felt good. People's self-assessments. At last was found imbedded in the hump. Is not going to go for a health check up. A backyard. Through networks of friends.

Reading passage 2 A. One unquestioned article of faith in political thrillers is that the bad guy is a genius the supervillain as megamind. In reality, criminals are no smarter, maybe a lot dumber, than the rest of us. That's certainly true of the self-appointed jihadis who, in the wake of 9/11, concocted harebrained plots that hurt no one but themselves. We think of the Christmas Day airplane bomber who blew up his groin; the Times Square guerrilla who left the keys to his getaway vehicle in the car with the bombs; and Iyman Faris, who believed he could destroy the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch. B. Chris Morris, the English satirist, is ever on watch for examples of toxic lunacy, and a few years ago he found a piquant news item. It was about "these Yemeni jihadis who were plotting to blow up a warship that was moored in a bay," Morris told Jesse Thorn last week on public radio's The Sound of Young America. "Their plan was to ram it with an exploding boat. So they assembled on the quayside at 3 in the morning. They put their launch in the water, and they filled it full of explosives. And it sank." C. There could be a similar crew of Islamic doofuses in the city of Sheffield in north England. What explosive mischief might they create? That's the premise of Morris' brilliantly incendiary new comedy Four Lions: a few radicalized English Muslims plan an attack on the London marathon while dressed in clown outfits. These guys really are clowns, wild and foolish but no less dangerous, at least to themselves, since they have dynamite strapped to their stomachs. Their incompetence is on display in the movie's first scene, as Omar (Riz Ahmed), the group's leader, is showing his pretty wife and sweet kid a video that he and his mates have made: arms cradling machine guns, they spit out death threats against the West. But the other guys keep tripping over their lines. "These are the outtakes, y' know, the bloopers," Omar says apologetically. He looks at the rest of the video and sighs, "They're all bloopers." D. For a quarter-century, Morris, 45, has been lobbing comic grenades at the British media from deep inside it: first as a late-night DJ who muttered derisive comments about news headlines on the air while they were being read, then in 1991 as the host of BBC Radio 4's news-spoof show On the Hour. Morris presided in splendid arrogance over a team that included feckless sportscaster Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan), snooty business newsreader Collately Sisters (Doon MacKickan) and the serially incompetent correspondent Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan (Patrick Marber). E. Produced by Armando Iannucci, later the mastermind of the fiendishly funny Whitehall sitcom The Thick of It (which spun off into the 2009 film In the Loop), On the Hour didn't deal in topical humor, like the '60s That Was the Week That Was or Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" segment. Instead, it meant to skewer the tone of TV news, by turns omniscient and truckling, in the production of what the show called "genutainment." F. In 1994, On the Hour transferred to TV as The Day Today. This news-show burlesque would lead with Morris' shouted headlines ("Exploded Cardinal Preaches Sermon from Fish Tank"), investigate some big story (a Buckingham Palace fistfight between the Queen and then Prime Minister John Major) and broadcast a disaster video sent in by viewers ("The unnamed woman

had been pierced by a shaft of frozen urine which had fallen from the toilet facility of an overhead plane"). G. Morris and his team would also go on the street to interview prominent politicians and innocent citizens, whose comments would be aired blissfully out of context. Before The Daily Show, this show was mocking the news format in Morris' words, "hijacking the delivery system." Before Ali G, Morris was pranking the public. The Day Today also ran excerpts of a reality sitcom called The Office, seven years before Ricky Gervais did his show of the same name. Source: Time Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15 27 which are based on Reading Passage 2 Questions 15 19 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 15 -19 in your answer sheet write TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. if the statement agrees with the information if the statement contradicts the information if there is no information on this

Criminals prefer to choose the festival days for their attacks on the mass. Morris, 45, has been lobbing comic grenades at the British media from deep inside it. Terrorists are villains. Morris has interviewed a number of politicians to prove his point. In reality criminals are much smarter than the ordinary people.

Question 20 23 Look at the following topics (questions 20 23) and the list of statements below. Match each topic to the correct statement. Write the correct letter A G in boxes 1 4 on your answer sheet. 20. Collately Sisters 21. Alan Partridge 22. Chris Morris 23. The Daily Show A B C D E F G There were lots of criticism round the show. This show was mocking the news format. Is ever on watch for examples of toxic lunacy. Snooty business newsreader. Have obsessed about the new news casting. Feckless sportscaster. Was a Welsh satirist.

Questions 24 27 Complete the following statements with the correct alternative from the box. Write the correct letter A F in boxes 24 27 on your answer sheet. 24. 25. 26. 27. Four Lions: a few radicalized English The Thick of It spun off into the 2009 film There could be a similar crew of Islamic doofuses Morris and his team would also go on the street to interview

A Honest to analysts. B In the Loop. C In the city of Sheffield in north England. D Prominent politicians and innocent citizens. E Could succeed in 2015. F Muslims plan an attack on the London marathon.

Reading Passage 3 A. Fashion is a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing. The more technical term, costume, has become so linked in the public eye with the term "fashion" that the more general term "costume" has in popular use mostly been relegated to special senses like fancy dress or masquerade wear, while the term "fashion" means clothing generally, and the study of it. For a broad cross-cultural look at clothing and its place in society, refer to the entries for clothing, costume and fabrics. The remainder of this article deals with clothing fashions in the Western world. B. Changes in costume often took place at times of economic or social change (such as in ancient Rome and the medieval Caliphate), but then a long period without major changes followed. This occurred in Moorish Spain from the 8th century, when the famous musician Ziryab introduced sophisticated clothing styles based on seasonal and daily timings from his native Baghdad and his own inspiration to Crdoba, Spain. Similar changes in fashion occurred in the Middle East from the 11th century, following the arrival of the Turks who introduced clothing styles from Central Asia and the Far East. C. The beginnings of the habit in Europe of continual and increasingly rapid change in clothing styles can be fairly reliably dated to the middle of the 14th century, to which Fernand Braudel date the start of Western fashion in clothing. The most dramatic manifestation was a sudden

D.

E.

F.

G.

drastic shortening and tightening of the male over-garment, from calf-length to barely covering the buttocks, sometimes accompanied with stuffing on the chest to look bigger. This created the distinctive Western male outline of a tailored top worn over leggings or trousers. The pace of change accelerated considerably in the following century, and women and men's fashion, especially in the dressing and adorning of the hair, became equally complex and changing. Art historians are therefore able to use fashion in dating images with increasing confidence and precision, often within five years in the case of 15th century images. Initially changes in fashion led to a fragmentation of what had previously been very similar styles of dressing across the upper classes of Europe, and the development of distinctive national styles. These remained very different until a counter-movement in the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar styles once again, mostly originating from Ancien Rgime France. Though the rich usually led fashion, the increasing affluence of early modern Europe led to the bourgeoisie and even peasants following trends at a distance sometimes uncomfortably close for the elites - a factor Braudel regards as one of the main motors of changing fashion. Ten 16th century portraits of German or Italian gentlemen may show ten entirely different hats, and at this period national differences were at their most pronounced, as Albrecht Drer recorded in his actual or composite contrast of Nuremberg and Venetian fashions at the close of the 15th century (illustration, right). The "Spanish style" of the end of the century began the move back to synchronicity among upper-class Europeans, and after a struggle in the mid 17th century, French styles decisively took over leadership, a process completed in the 18th century. Though colours and patterns of textiles changed from year to year, the cut of a gentleman's coat and the length of his waistcoat, or the pattern to which a lady's dress was cut changed more slowly. Men's fashions largely derived from military models, and changes in a European male silhouette are galvanized in theatres of European war, where gentleman officers had opportunities to make notes of foreign styles: an example is the "Steinkirk" cravat or necktie. The pace of change picked up in the 1780s with the increased publication of French engravings that showed the latest Paris styles; though there had been distribution of dressed dolls from France as patterns since the 16th century, and Abraham Bosse had produced engravings of fashion from the 1620s. By 1800, all Western Europeans were dressing alike (or thought they were): local variation became first a sign of provincial culture, and then a badge of the conservative peasant.

Source: Wikipedia.com Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28 40 which are based on Reading Passage 3. Questions 28 32 The passage has seven paragraphs labelled AG. Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet. NB: You may use any letter more than once. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. A long period without major changes followed in Moorish Spain from the 8th century. The "Spanish style" of the end of the century began the move back to synchronicity. The rich usually led fashion. The increasing affluence of early modern Europe led to the bourgeoisie. The most dramatic manifestation was a sudden drastic shortening and tightening of the male over-garment.

Questions 33 36 Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 3. Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

33. 34. 35. 36.

A counter-movement in the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar . Costume has become so linked in the public eye with . Women and men's fashion, especially in the dressing and adorning of the hair, became equally . Fashion is a general term for a currently popular .

Questions 37 40 Complete the summary of the paragraphs A C below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet. Ten 16th century portraits of German or Italian gentlemen may show ten 37 . The "Spanish style" of the end of the century began the move back to synchronicity among upper-class Europeans, and after a struggle in the mid 17th century, French styles decisively took over leadership, a process 38 . Though colours and patterns of textiles changed 39 The pace of change picked up in the 1780s with the increased publication 39 . Local variation became first a sign of provincial culture, and then a badge of 40