READING SET 1 ODTÜ İNGİLİZCE YETERLİK SINAVI OKUMA BÖLÜMÜ
SADECE BİREYSEL KULLANIM İÇİNDİR
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READING SET 1
Page 1 of 15
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
(30 points)
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
SECTION I: SENTENCE COMPLETION Questions 1-4 Mark the alternative which best completes each sentence or thought. 1.
As oil prices rise, alternative energy sources and technologies that use less oil become more competitive. Indeed, ___________. a) the race for new energy sources - from wind farms to liquid coal - is heating up b) the problem with this technological innovation is that the developments are coming too late to allow a smooth transition c) most people can't afford to abandon houses built in developments 100 miles out in the countryside when oil was cheap d) new technologies won't be available in sufficient quantities for decades
2.
Ozone exists naturally in the Earth's upper atmosphere, known as the stratosphere, where it protects the Earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays. However, ___________. a) ozone concentrations can reach unhealthy levels when the weather is hot b) even at relatively low levels, ozone may cause inflammation and irritation of the respiratory tract c) groups that are sensitive to ozone include children and adults who are active outdoors d) ozone is also found close to the Earth's surface where it is a harmful air pollutant
3.
Although some of history’s most accomplished men enjoyed napping, no one has yet proved a correlation between napping and success. On the other hand, ___________. a) an interesting new study published this week claims to find a link between daytime siestas and good health b) the benefit of taking siestas has been found to be greater for men than for women c) “Type A” personalities, whose hard-working lives may make them prone to heart attacks, are also much less likely to take naps during the day d) given that all of the subjects of the new study were Greek, the famous Mediterranean diet could deserve credit, rather than the siestas
4.
As countries such as China, India and Brazil grow in prosperity, there will be large populations with purchasing power, consuming more goods and services. As a result,__________. a) many environmentalists have noted that, more and more, such countries are following the style of development that the rich countries used b) penalizing developing countries for the problem mostly caused by the rich countries is not seen as fair c) these countries will contribute more to greenhouse gases and environmental degradation on the planet d) it has been factors such as politics and economics that have determined environmental degradation or sustainability
Page 2 of 15
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
SECTION II: PARAGRAPH COMPLETION Questions 5-7 Mark the alternative which best completes each paragraph. 5. Naming the planet Venus after the goddess of love seems to be a very strange choice.__________. Yet in its youth it was, like its gentler sister Earth, wrapped in oceans that provided a suitable breeding ground for plants and animals. What went wrong? Since 1962 more than 30 spacecraft have made the trip to Venus, trying to understand Earth's nearest neighbour and so-called twin planet. a) Its clouds of sulphuric acid, crushing atmosphere of carbon dioxide and surface temperature of 457°C are anything but lovely b) b) Venus lost most of its liquid water because of being closer to the sun than the Earth c) Planetary scientists have long blamed Venus's sterility on the lack of an internal magnetic field d) Earth and Venus probably started out much the same but, as they have grown older, they have grown apart 6. The one thing that will probably protect us from the blow of this new energy crisis is something old, something that may involve discomfort and duty: conservation. There is nothing particularly attractive about carpooling, turning the thermostat down in winter and up in summer, or biking to the office and back, but it does work. In the early '80s, in the middle of increasing oil prices, we doubled the average efficiency of cars and heaters.__________. However, with the inevitable price shocks to come we are heading that way soon enough. a) We could see the equivalent of the Great Depression, fed by extreme oil and natural-gas prices b) We will definitely suffer a tremendous amount of economic and social hardship c) We might not be into another energy-crisis kind of attitude yet d) We need time to make adjustments to the new technologies 7. Opponents of home-schooling argue that it is socially dividing. Also, since it is regulated lightly or not at all, it is hard to tell whether children being taught at home are receiving an adequate education. As some experts say, unregulated homeschooling opens up the possibility that children will never learn about alternative ways of life. __________ . They hotly deny that children learn better social skills on a school playground than at home. a) On the contrary, parents who teach at home are deeply involved in their children’s education, and the children of such parents do well in normal schools, too. b) Moreover, having Barack Obama in the White House may cause more people to pull their children out of public schools c) Thus, in a recent survey by the Department of Education 83% of home-schooling parents said they wanted to teach religious or moral values to their children d) However, home-schooling parents make no apology for protecting their children from what they see as bad influences
Page 3 of 15
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
SECTION III: SUPPORTING IDEAS Questions 8-10 In the following items, three of the alternatives support the main statement or idea and one does not. Mark the alternative that DOES NOT support the given topic statement. 8. It turns out that helping prevent the spread of tuberculosis (TB) may be as simple as opening a window. a) The World Health Organization recommends natural air circulation as one way to limit TB transmission in impoverished areas. b) Natural ventilation dilutes the concentration of TB in the air, reducing the risk of infection for hospital workers and other patients. c) Specialists note that mechanical ventilators are very expensive for poor countries, where more than three quarters of TB cases occur. d) With windows open, the air inside hospital wards is completely changed out 28 times an hour, which plays an important role in restricting TB transmission.
9. Sub-Saharan Africa will not reach the United Nations’ goals of reducing world poverty by half by year 2015. a) The extreme-poverty rate in Africa has fallen from an estimated 46% in 1999 to 41% in 2004, but that is still way off the 2015 target of 22%. b) The proportion of under-fives who are underweight has declined only marginally, from 33% in 1990 to 29% in 2005. c) Sub-Saharan economy is growing quicker than it has grown for a generation and it is putting children in school faster than any other region. d) With 348 million children under 14, Africa’s rapidly growing population causes it to fall behind other regions.
10. Although Neanderthals could use primitive tools and buried their dead, they seem to have lacked modern humans' capacity for abstract thought. a) The mystery of how and why Neanderthals failed to survive contact with modern humans has not been solved. b) It was the emerging modern humans –not the Neanderthals- that could produce the cave paintings of Lascaux 50,000 years ago. c) Neanderthals never crossed a body of water they couldn’t see across. d) There is no evidence that Neanderthals ever had language.
Page 4 of 15
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
SECTION IV: TEXT COMPREHENSION Questions 11-30 On your answer sheet, mark the alternative which best answers the question or completes the statement about the text. Reading text 1 (1) Faith tourism is a fast-growing industry that serves some 300 million travellers and produces an estimated 18 billion dollars in profits a year. In India and Saudi Arabia, hotel chains are building for an invasion of tourists. North American tour companies now cater to what was once perceived as a niche market: a small group of potential customers. Rising income, lower travel costs, and a desire to find journeys with a purpose are encouraging what experts describe as an increase in interest across faiths, both in traditional sites and in less known spots. Sometimes the place of worship is new; for example, Pope John Paul II’s Vatican tomb. Others are in regions that until recently had been politically off-limits - Tibet, for instance. Whatever the destination, contemporary pilgrims seek what pilgrims have always sought. According to religious-travel scholar David Gitlitz, faith tourists look for “contact points between the human and the divine” at sites where they feel their prayers may be filled with greater significance. Adapted from: www.nationalgeographic.com
11. As we understand from the text, tourism industry in India and Saudi Arabia ________. a) b) c) d)
is getting ready for the arrival of a great number of faith tourists is attracting more faith tourists than North American tour companies has an income of about 18 billion dollars a year cater to a larger group of faith tourists than North American tourism industry
12. According to the writer, an important reason for an increase in faith tourism is that _______. a) b) c) d)
there are now more religious people than in the past tourists can now afford to travel far away more people find it adventurous to visit politically off-limits places people tend to combine faith tourism with other forms of tourism
13. What is the point made in the text about faith travellers? They _______. a) b) c) d)
have difficulty in finding spots that give them spiritual satisfaction have always preferred Tibet despite the political problems there would like to pray in exotic places want their journey to have a strong meaning
Page 5 of 15
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading text 2 (1) Of all its accomplishments, the West is perhaps most proud of its scientific revolution, which has been developing for the past half-millennium. In the previous centuries, though, the Arab world played a pivotal historical role. Its own scholars studied nature and pushed the limits of knowledge. In the meantime, its book copiers preserved the discoveries and insights of earlier Greek thinkers whose works did not fit well with the dominant Christian dogma of the Middle Ages. (2) In recent times, however, Arab and Muslim societies have turned away from science, preventing these societies from enjoying its many benefits. Some Arab scientists argue that everybody now should have a strong personal interest in advancing science and technology in the Arab and Muslim world. Not only can science and technology help to feed people, improve their health, and create wealth, but they can help reduce societal tensions and build international bridges for badly needed dialogue and mutual understanding. To lead science and technology more thoroughly into Arab culture and society, however, they suggest that the West needs to recognize the Arab world's historical contributions, and advise the Arab world to stop living in its golden past by welcoming lessons about science and technology that the West learned long ago. Adapted from: www.science.com 14. It is understood from the text that Arab book copiers had an important function in ______. a) b) c) d)
making available for the world the works of thinkers from pre-Christian era spreading science and technology across the Christian world in the Middle Ages providing the world with some insights into the works of Arab scholars helping Arab scholars start a scientific revolution in modern times
15. In paragraph 1, the word “pivotal� probably means________. a) b) c) d)
questionable central weakening common
16. According to the text, some Arab scientists now believe that in order to bring science and technology back into the Arab world the West should _________. a) b) c) d)
contribute to the welfare of Arab society improve the international relations with Arabs accept that Arabs gave great support to science and technology in the past find new ways of teaching Arabs the developments in science and technology
Page 6 of 15
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading text 3 (1)There is a strong case that black Americans suffer from a series of disadvantageous environments. Studies show time and again that before they go to school, black children are on average exposed to a smaller vocabulary than white children, in part due to socioeconomic factors. While children from professional households typically hear a total of 2150 different words, children from working class households hear 1250, and children from households on welfare just 620. Black children are obviously not to blame for their poor socio-economic status, but something beyond economic status is at work in black homes. Child psychologists put forward, for example, that many black parents have not signed up for the “great mission” of the white middle class – the constant search for stimulating intellectual growth and getting their child into Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge. Rather than a “hothouse” approach, they favour a “natural growth” view: give a child food and love, and all will be well. (2) Elsie Moore of Arizona State University studied black children adopted by either black or white parents, all of whom were middle-class professionals. By the age of 7.5 years, those in black homes were 13 IQ points behind those being raised in the white homes. Eventually, children exchange parents for peers as their dominant environment. While many black males know education is valuable, they cannot resist the attraction of black teenage subculture. Dressing in an extreme manner, sexual conquests, hanging out, drugs, hip-hop and unusual speech all become more important than cognitively demanding activities. After 18 there is no problem finding signs of a disadvantageous environment. More black men go to jail than to university, while black women are three times as likely to become single mothers, often cognitively isolated in the sense that there is no continuous interaction with another adult. (3) Let us consider just one other bit of evidence. The environment for black people in the US may look depressing but there is one group of black Americans whose children were raised elsewhere. After the Second World War, white and black soldiers of the American occupation force in Germany fathered children. By the ages of between 6 and 13, tests showed that the children’s IQs were approximately similar, though this does not settle the debate. The numbers are too small, and there was a mental test to prove you were fit for the army so the soldiers were not a random sample. However, one thing that did not exist in Germany was a black subculture – and the effect of this seems to be highly significant. One of the strongest arguments against intellectual equality across races is that the IQ deficit of black people rises as the cognitive complexity of a task increases. Yet in Germany, that pattern simply disappeared. In America, despite recent IQ gains on white people, the pattern is still strong, and black people remain much worse at solving complex problems. Adapted from: www.newscientist.com 17. According to a view put forward by child psychologists, one interesting factor that influences black children’s IQ points is their parents’ _______. a) b) c) d)
lack of hope of sending their children to good universities desire to be part of the black community rather than mixing with the educated white not having high educational expectations from their children not being fully aware of the responsibilities of parenthood
Page 7 of 15
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
18. The writer believes that when we consider black teenagers’ environment, the main cause for the IQ deficit in their teenage years is _________. a) b) c) d)
the domination of black subculture elements in their lives the low number of words that they hear at home having one of the parents in jail the fact that they mostly come from working class households
19. The writer argues that an important reason why black Americans in Germany do not suffer from IQ deficit is that they _______. a) b) c) d)
are not trapped into the black subculture have to solve complex problems at school receive more attention and support from their parents are a small group who got genetically mixed with Germans
Page 8 of 15
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading text 4
(1) Four hundred years ago our understanding of the universe changed forever. When an Italian mathematician called Galileo Galilei turned his newly constructed telescope on the skies in August 1609, he saw mountains casting shadows on the moon and realised this body was a world with complicated landscape like the Earth. He saw the moons of Jupiter—objects that circled another body in the sky. This was in direct disobedience of the church’s teaching. He saw the moonlike phases of Venus, indicating that this planet circled the sun, not the Earth, in even greater disobedience of the priests. He saw sunspots, demonstrating that the sun itself was not the perfect circle demanded by the Greek cosmology (the branch of astrophysics that studies the origins and structure of the universe) and accepted by the church at that time. But he also saw something else, a thing that is often now forgotten. He saw that the Milky Way, that cloudy strip across the sky, is made of stars. 2) That observation was the first sign that, not only is the Earth not the centre of things, but those things are extremely, almost incomprehensibly, bigger than people up until that date had dreamed. And they have been getting bigger, and also older, ever since. Reality does not necessarily end with this universe. Today physics, astronomy’s respectful daughter, suggests that the object that people call the universe, although it is enormous, may be just one of the unlimited numbers of similar structures that live in what we call "the multiverse". (3) The breaking of the crystal spheres which Galileo’s contemporaries thought held the planets and the stars is (along with Darwin’s discovery of evolution by natural selection) the biggest revolution in self-knowledge that mankind has experienced. The world that Galileo was born into was of understandable scope. The Greeks had a fair idea of the size of the Earth and the distance to the moon, and so did the people in the Middle Ages who read their work. But these were distances that the imagination might accept. And it was easier to believe that a human-sized universe was one that might have been brought into being with humanity in mind. However, with the modern version of cosmology, it is harder to argue that the universe, which is multiversal rather than universal, has come into existence for mankind only. (4) Four centuries on, it is difficult to think of Galileo’s intellectual successors, meeting this week in Rio de Janeiro under the sponsorship of the International Astronomical Union, as trouble-maker revolutionaries. Yet their discoveries — from planets around other stars that may support alien life to dark matter and energy of unknown nature —are no less worldchanging than his. Modern astronomers may be more comfortable than the people in the Middle Ages with the idea that man’s central place within the universe can suddenly change. Still, that idea should not blind them to the wonder of the universe. Adapted from www.economist.com
Page 9 of 15
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
20. Among Galileo’s many observations, the writer particularly draws attention to the ones ______. a) b) c) d)
showing the different features of the moon indicating the number of the moons circling the planets concentrating on the huge size of the universe highlighting the importance of the sun
21. As explained in the text, the church in Galileo’s time _____. a) b) c) d)
thought of the sun as a spotless sphere mostly rejected the Greek cosmology had already known about the Milky Way did not believe in the existence of other planets
22. One of the main points that the writer discusses concerning the universe is _____. a) that modern astronomers are uncomfortable with the idea of the universe getting bigger b) the suggestion that there may be more than one universe c) the fact that the universe does not have an edge d) that there may be many other planets that support life 23. The writer implies that it was difficult for humanity, especially in medieval times and earlier, to _____. a) b) c) d)
have an even rough idea about the sizes of the Earth and the moon imagine that the universe was created for human beings calculate the distance to the moon accept their unimportant place in the universe
24. According to the writer, modern astronomers’ discoveries ______. a) b) c) d)
were already made in the Middle Ages do not help them see the wonders of the universe are as revolutionary as those of Galileo’s time may cause as much trouble as Galileo’s discoveries
Page 10 of 15
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading text 5
(1) Scientists used to think intellectual power peaked at age 40 and then the brain began a slow decline. Now they know better. More and more, neurologists and psychologists are coming to the conclusion that the brain at midlife–a period increasingly defined as the years from 35 to 65 and even beyond–is a much more elastic thing than anyone ever realized. Far from slowly powering down, the brain as it ages begins bringing new cognitive systems on line and cross-indexing existing ones in ways it never did before. You may not pack so much raw data into memory as you could when you were studying intensively for college finals, and your short-term memory may not be what it was, but you maximize your ability to use the entirety of the information in your brain on an everyday and ongoing basis. What is more, your temperament changes to suit those new skills, growing more comfortable with ambiguity and less inclined to frustration or irritation. Although some people become inflexible and less open to new experiences, for many others the aging process not only does not weaken the brain, it actually makes it better.
(2) If your mind does indeed grow more agile as you age, one of the things that may help it do so is the amount of glue you carry around in your brain–glia (Greek for glue) being what the 19th century German anatomists called it. Only about half the mass of the brain is composed of gray matter, or nerve cells; the rest is white matter, the connecting tissue that, in a sense, glues it all together. Much of that white matter is made of conductive nerve strands, and covering each fine wire is a fatty sheath of myelin that keeps nerve signals from popping out or cross firing during transmission. "Myelin is what makes us human," says Bartzokis, a neurologist from UCLA. "We have 20% to 30% more than other primates do."
(3) Throughout our lives, fresh layers of myelin sheathing are laid down in the brain. In infants and children, who grow increasingly coordinated as they mature, the greater part of that takes place in the motor and sensory lobes. If we acquire better reasoning skills in middle age, as Bartzokis long suspected, it would follow that most of the myelin added in those years would appear in the higher brain regions that are the seat of sophisticated thought. To test that idea, Bartzokis used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the volume and distribution of white matter in 300 healthy subjects from 18 to 75 years old as well as in hundreds of older people suffering from such brain-related illnesses as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. As he suspected, the healthy adults had the most myelin in the frontal and temporal lobes where big thoughts live. The quantity of sheathing reached its peak around the age of 45 or 50, much more than the amount in either unhealthy older subjects or healthy younger ones.
Page 11 of 15
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
(4) It is not just the wiring that charges up the brain as we age, it is the way different regions start pulling together to make the whole organ work better than the sum of its parts. For all its plasticity, the brain is a specialized machine, with specific regions handling specific operations. The greatest difference comes between the left and the right hemispheres, which often work almost independently of each other. That is not such a bad thing because one hemisphere can be busy writing a grocery list or solving an equation while the other scans the environment and tends to other basic tasks. As we age, however, the walls between the hemispheres seem to fall, with the two halves working increasingly in tandem. Neuroscientists think this bilateralization may be a characteristic the brain uses to make up for the decline in its ability to process information. The brain combines the hemispheres so efficiently that the reasoning processes actually become better than they were before.
(5) If such important changes occur in the brain, it may be shaped in part by evolutionary forces, offering advantages for the whole species. Human beings' comparatively long life spans and extended families are very good things, but keeping children healthy and well behaved over the decades takes more than the energy of young parents. It takes the cool heads and wise advice of the family graybeards too. Also, it is that talent for deep thinking that explains the role older adults have always played in the human culture. It is not for nothing that history's trouble makers and ideologues are typically young, while its judges and peacemakers and great theologians tend to be older. Not everyone achieves the quick thinking and calm appearance that can come with age. But for those who do, the later years can be the best years they have ever had. Adapted from: www.time.com/time 25. According to the text, although aging people’s ability to retain new information declines, they __________. a) b) c) d)
can easily improve their memory by indexing information make better use of the information that already exists in the brain become more skilled at clarifying ambiguous concepts compensate for this loss by using their life experiences on a daily basis
26. In paragraph 2, the word “agile� probably means ________. a) b) c) d)
relaxed irritable active agitated
27. As it is described in the text, myelin is a substance that ________. a) b) c) d)
covers nerve strands is found in gray matter is transmitted to nerve cells receives nerve signals
Page 12 of 15
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
28. The text suggests that the connections in the higher brain regions are best in people who ________. a) b) c) d)
have a reduced amount of white matter are about 75 years old are healthy adults of about 50 have shown early signs of sophisticated thought
29. In paragraph 4, the phrase “with the two halves working increasingly in tandem” means that in old people the two hemispheres of the brain __________. a) b) c) d)
work together for efficiency have specialized duties are more and more disconnected compensate for the age-related weakness
30. From an evolutionary perspective, the kinds of changes that occur in old people’s brains __________. a) b) c) d)
can make them more judgmental about people enable them to become wise caretakers cause them to get more involved in politics give them the energy to look after their grandchildren
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 1
EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
ANSWER KEY 1. a 2. d 3. a 4. c 5. a 6. c 7. d 8. c 9. c 10. a 11. a 12. b 13. d 14. a 15. b 16. c 17. c 18. a 19. a 20. c 21. a 22. b 23. d 24. c 25. b 26. c 27. a 28. c 29. a 30. b
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
(30 points)