READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
READING SET 6 ODTÜ İNGİLİZCE YETERLİK SINAVI OKUMA BÖLÜMÜ
SADECE BİREYSEL KULLANIM İÇİNDİR
Tüm hakları saklıdır. Bu eserin hiçbir bölümü telif hakkı sahibinin yazılı izni olmadan çoğaltılamaz veya herhangi bir şekilde, fotokopi dahil olmak üzere, elektronik veya mekanik hiçbir araçla ile kopyalanamaz, herhangi bir bilgi depolama aracında saklanamaz, başkalarıyla paylaşılamaz.
© Nükte DURHAN All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or held within any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
SECTION I: SENTENCE COMPLETION Questions 1-4 On your answer sheet, mark the alternative which best completes each sentence or thought. 1. The idea of being mindful -- being present, being more conscious of life as it happens -may seem contradictory to those people who are used to sacrificing living for pursuing their goals. However, ____________. a) by being mindful, you enjoy your food more, you enjoy friends and family more, you enjoy anything you're doing more b) even things you might think are boring can be amazing if you are truly present c) if you fill your day with tasks, you will be rushing from one thing to the next without stopping to think about what you do d) cultivating mindfulness will help you both achieve your goals and enjoy life more 2. The link between parental income and a child’s academic success has grown stronger, as
____________. a) clever people become richer and spend much more money on their children’s education
than it used to b) a young college graduate earns 63% more than a high-school graduate if both work fulltime c) the gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger in many places in the world d) parents start investing in children in early childhood, when the right kind of stimulation has the greatest effect 3. A group of climate researchers point out that it is now possible to say with confidence that human influence on climate increased the risk of having exceptional heatwaves. For example, ____________. a) the group has recently published nine studies of heatwaves that occurred in 2013, including in Europe, China , Japan and Korea b) climate change also seems to be contributing to droughts, but the evidence here is weaker. c) they say that the Australian heatwave of 2013, called “angry summer”, would have been virtually impossible without man-made climate change d) another study concluded that global warming increases the risk of drought in California in some ways but decreases it in others, leaving no net change
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
4. Population growth has been so rapid that there is no real example we can turn to for clues about the possible consequences. In other words, ____________. a) we can get clues by considering where population growth is expected to be strongest in the years ahead b) it is not the number of people on the planet that is the issue but the number of consumers and the scale and nature of their consumption c) it is clear to all of us that the planet is not getting bigger, so there is only so much space on Earth, and only so many resources that can support a human population d) our current level of knowledge does not allow us to predict what will happen with such a large population, simply because it has never happened before
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
SECTION II: PARAGRAPH COMPLETION Questions 5-7 Mark the alternative which best completes each paragraph. 5. When it comes to assimilating new arrivals, Europe could learn a thing or two from America. It is not “culturally imperialist” to teach migrants to respect both the law and local norms such as tolerance and sexual equality. ____________. This serves an economic purpose and a cultural one: immigrants who work assimilate far more quickly than those who are forced to sit around in ghettos. a) The process of absorbing refugees will be neither quick nor easy, but it is the right thing to do b) Districts with more young single men than women are more prone to violence, especially if those men are jobless c) It is also essential to make it as easy as possible for migrants to work d) Young foreign workers can help solve the problem of an ageing Europe 6. Tulips appear in many of the still life paintings of the 17th century genre of Dutch flower painting. Dutch artists commonly depicted many other types of flowers, including irises and roses. ____________ .This was the age of the so-called ‘tulip mania’, when speculators traded the flower’s bulbs for extraordinary sums of money. Then, without warning, the market for them collapsed in a dramatic way. Ever since, the tale of tulip mania has been considered the first example of an economic bubble. a) At that time, tulips had already been cultivated by gardeners in the Ottoman Empire for decades b) Yet within the Dutch Republic of the 17th Century, tulips, in particular, were very wellknown for a special reason c) The 17th century painter Jan Brueghel’s famous still life is the first painting on view in “Dutch Flowers”, a new display at the National Gallery in London d) A small exhibition shows the development over two centuries of the genre of Dutch flower painting 7. The presence of beauty products everywhere in ancient Egypt poses a challenge for modern archaeologists. On the one hand, it is possible that ancient Egyptians were obsessed with superficial appearance, much as we are today. They may even have set the model for how we still perceive beauty. On the other hand, ____________. a) we continue to associate ancient Egypt with glamour and beauty b) ancient Egyptians of both sexes went to great lengths to improve their appearance c) the significance of cosmetic artefacts in ancient Egypt could go beyond the simple desire to look attractive d) the more we try to understand what the Egyptians themselves understood as ‘beautiful’, the more confusing it becomes Page 4 of 14
EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 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. Whether it is pizza, Parmigiano or pasta, Italians can be fiercely protective of their traditional foods. a) Recently, Italian police shut down a ring of thieves that stole about $875,000 worth of precious Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. b) The Italian government criticized American companies for using the name “Parmesan” to describe cheeses it considers inferior. c) The mayor of Verona in Italy claimed that suppliers of kebabs were weakening the city’s food culture and banned any new “ethnic restaurants” from opening. d) As the story goes, the first pizzas were made in 1886 at Naples’ Pizzeria Brandi to honor the visit of Italy’s Princess Margherita of Savoy 9. Noam Chomsky, one of the world’s most prominent linguists, has always argued that human language is fundamentally different from any other kind of communication, all human languages being variations of a single language. a) According to Chomsky, children’s incredibly quick and successful learning points to a distinctive language ability in the human brain. b) Noam Chomsky is the man who revolutionized linguistics since he wrote “Syntactic Structures” in 1957. c) Chomsky has especially focused on the features of language that he considers are unique to humans. d)The vast differences among the world’s languages, Chomsky argues, are simply differences in their external forms. 10. The almost-a-century-long spell of mutual distrust and troubles in the Cuban-American relationship changed in December 2014. a) Obama and Fidel Castro’s relatively reform-minded brother Raúl announced the restoration of diplomatic ties. b) A process of normalization started with the loosening of some aspects of the trade and travel embargo. c) The troubles in the Cuban-American relationship go back to the start of the 20th century, when the island was put under American military occupation. d) Obama’s visit to the island has been received in Cuba as an indication that the American government is starting to see the island as an equal rather than a subordinate.
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
SECTION V: TEXT COMPREHENSION Questions 11-30 Mark the alternative which best answers the question or completes the statement about the text. Reading 1: The Modern Slave Trade (1) On the range of hateful business practices, buying and selling humans, especially children, is seen as the worst form. Yet modern abolitionists (those who support the abolition of slavery) say it happens all the time. “This Nigerian eruption [kidnappings by Boko Haram] is a chilling and unusual form of trafficking,” says Carol Smolenski, executive director of ECPAT-USA, an organization that fights child trafficking. “But I can tell you definitely that the sexual exploitation of children takes place in every country.” Many nations are simply in denial about it. “After 22 years of working on this issue, I’ve learned that the first conversation in any new country starts with, ‘But we don’t have that here’”. (2) It may not look like the old slave trade - no country legally protects the institution of slavery anymore, and the chains are economic or psychological rather than physical – but the trade in humans is a booming 21st century business. Finding people to enslave is not that complicated. The most fertile ground shares three characteristics: a heavy layer of poverty, a group of especially vulnerable people and only small amounts of the rule of law. Much of the world fits that description. Adapted from: www.time.com 11. Which of the following is true about child trafficking in many countries? Authorities ____________. a) b) c) d)
have taken serious measures against it have been successful in their fight except in a few nations do not accept it is an issue in their country believe it is an old practice that is not so common in the 21st century
12. The writer believes that the trade in humans is a widespread practice in the world because of ____________. a) b) c) d)
the existence of many poor people exposed to abuse the appearance of terrorist groups like Boko Haram some countries still protecting the institution of slavery the lack of new laws abolishing slavery
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading 2: The evolution of “coywolf” (1) It seems that the North American wolves faced with a scarcity of potential sexual partners lowered their standards. Biologists think that it was desperation of this kind that led decreasing wolf populations in southern Ontario to begin breeding widely with dogs and coyotes (North American jackals). This happened a century or two ago. The clearance of forests for farming, together with the suffering of wolves at the hand of man, had made life tough for the species. That same forest clearance, though, both allowed coyotes to spread from their prairie homeland into areas previously belonging completely to wolves, and brought the dogs that accompanied the farmers into the mix. (2) Interbreeding between animal species usually leads to offspring less strong than either parent—if they survive at all. But the combination of wolf, coyote and dog DNA that resulted from this reproductive necessity generated an exception. The consequence has been booming numbers of an extraordinarily fit new animal spreading through the eastern part of North America. Some call this creature the eastern coyote. Others, though, have dubbed it the “coywolf”. Whatever name it goes by, scientists estimate it now numbers in the millions. Adapted from: www.economist.com
13. The expression “lowered their standards” probably means that the North American wolves ____________. a) b) c) d)
were hunted by man bred with other species decreased in number spread to other habitats
14. According to the text, which one of the following enabled wolves, coyotes and dogs to mix? a) b) c) d)
The clearance of forests The persecution of wolves The widespread use of dogs The domestication of coyotes
15. We understand from the text that interbreeding between wolves, dogs and coyotes _____. a) b) c) d)
produced a fragile DNA decreased the new species’ chances of survival resulted in a combination difficult to classify made the new species stronger
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading 3: The weaker gender (1) At first glance the patriarchy appears to be thriving. More than 90% of presidents and prime ministers are male, as are nearly all big corporate bosses. Men dominate finance, technology, films, sports, music and even stand-up comedy. In much of the world they still enjoy social and legal privileges simply because they have a Y chromosome. So it might seem strange to worry about the plight of men. Yet there is plenty of cause for concern. Men cluster at the bottom as well as the top. They are far more likely than women to be jailed, estranged from their children, or to kill themselves. They earn fewer university degrees than women. Boys in the developed world are 50% more likely to fail basic maths, reading and science entirely. (2) One group in particular is suffering. Poorly educated men in rich countries have had difficulty coping with the enormous changes in the labor market and the home over the past half-century. As technology and trade have devalued muscle power, less-educated men have struggled to find a role in the workplace. Women, on the other hand, are pouring into expanding sectors such as health care and education, helped by their superior skills. As education has become more important, boys have also fallen behind girls in school (except at the very top). Men who lose jobs in manufacturing often never work again. And men without work find it hard to attract a permanent mate. The result, for low-skilled men, is a poisonous combination of no job, no family and no prospects. Adapted from: www.economist.com 16. In paragraph 1, the word “plight� probably means ____________. a) b) c) d)
superiority difficulty success threat
17. As we can understand from the text, low-skilled men in developed countries ____________. a) are now less likely to commit crime than in the past b) continue to fill most of the technology and trade related jobs c) can still attract women because of the job opportunities they have d) are less likely to complete their education than women 18. Concerning men and women’s influence in society, the main point emphasized in the text is that ____________. a) b) c) d)
male domination is likely to continue women are increasingly successful in jobs traditionally reserved to men men are losing ground in the labor market in developed societies women are gaining equal rights at work and in the family
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading 4: The Dutch Water Problem (1) One of the defining elements of medieval Europe was the top-down structure of society, called the manorial system. It consisted of a lord who oversaw an estate and peasants who worked the land and paid rent in the form of labor or crops. The lord provided protection and served as the court of law for his peasants, so that the manor was a complete economic and political unit. And the lord, in turn, owed loyalty to both a greater lord and to the Church. (2) The Dutch provinces did not become manorial, and the reason, as with nearly everything else, is related to water. Since much of the land was regained from the sea or swamps, neither Church nor nobility could claim to own it. It was created by communities (hence the Dutch saying “God made the earth, but the Dutch made Holland”). Residents got together to form water committees that were responsible for the complex, nonstop task of maintaining polders (regained lands), dams, and water mills to keep the water at bay. The committees are still very much a part of Dutch life and have exerted an enormous influence on the culture, in particular on the unusual combination of individualism and communalism that helps define “Dutchness”. (3) In this system, people bought and sold their own plots of land. Many Amsterdammers, for example, owned land just outside the city, which they farmed or rented out for extra income. The striking feature of this is that it was individuals, of all levels of society, who were invested in the land. Where land was controlled by noblemen and the Church in other parts of Europe, in the province of Holland, around 1500, only 5 percent of the land was owned by nobles, while peasants owned 45 percent of it. (4) It is hard to draw definitive cause-and-effect conclusions about such things, but it seems that this situation meant that ordinary Dutchmen were less inclined to adopt the position of obedience that serfs and peasants elsewhere were forced into. Instead of owing loyalty to a lord, people paid rent to one another or bought and sold property. Of course (to paraphrase Bob Dylan), everybody has to serve somebody, but to a remarkable extent the Dutch of the sixteenth century were their own bosses. Adapted from: Shorto, R. (2013). Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City. New York: Random House LLC
19. According to the first part of the text, the manorial system in Europe in the Middle-Ages meant that ____________. a) b) c) d)
it was the Great Lord and the Church who collected most of the rent from peasants peasants could buy land from the lord in exchange for hard labor peasants could refer to a greater lord for justice it was the lords who owned and ruled the lands
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
20. Residents of the Dutch provinces formed water committees as early as the Middle-Ages because ____________. a) b) c) d)
it was a way of breaking the domination of the lords they wanted to promote a communal life style in Holland they needed special groups for the task of gaining land from the sea the Church and nobility needed manpower in their struggle with water
21. According to the writer, as opposed to other parts of Europe, in the province of Holland ____________. a) b) c) d)
many peasants could farm their own land noblemen had to sell their property for income land was only available outside the cities people could rent their property with the lord’s permission
22. The main idea of the text is that the writer establishes a cause-effect relationship between the water problem in Holland and the public’s sense of ____________. a) b) c) d)
responsibility obedience loyalty individualism Reading 5: Da Hong Pao Tea
(1) China’s ancient bushes of Da Hong Pao produce one of the most expensive teas in the world. In 2002, a wealthy purchaser paid 180,000 yuan – almost $28,000 – for just 20g of China's legendary Da Hong Pao tea. Even in a culture that has valued tea drinking as an art form for around 1,500 years (and has a system of tea classification that makes French wine look simple), the price was astonishing. Original Da Hong Pao doesn't just cost its weight in gold – it costs more than 30 times its weight in gold: almost $1,400 for a single gram, or well over $10,000 for a pot. It is one of the most expensive teas in the world. (2) “It looks fit for a beggar, but it's priced for an emperor and has the heart of the Buddha,” says Xiao Hui, a tea maker in Wuyishan, a misty riverside town in Fujian, southern China. Da Hong Pao leaves from her family's tea gardens in Wuyishan have a dark, tangled and unfinished-look. Xiao and her family, tea makers for many generations, still go into the mountains every spring to call on the tea god, Lu Yu, to bring new shoots.
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
(3) Wuyishan's startling karst landscape (underlain by limestone which has been eroded by dissolution) has been famous for tea for centuries. The rain that pours down the limestone valleys and heights, flooding the narrow mountain streams and tumbling waterfalls, is heavy with minerals that give flavor. Today, every other shop in Wuyishan has a tea-tasting table set for the ritual of gong fu cha (kung fu tea) – the closest China comes to the Japanese tea ceremony –and shelves stacked with an extravagant selection of tea leaves. (4) Travellers to Wuyishan discover that many Da Hong Pao teas are surprisingly affordable. Though aged or antique versions can sell for extremely high prices, a Da Hong Pao of reasonable quality can cost around $100 per kilo in Wuyishan. But every genuine Da Hong Pao originates with a cutting from a single group of mother trees. And it is these original trees that produce the rare and sought-after original tea. “The original Da Hong Pao is so expensive because there are hardly any of the original tea trees left,” explains local tea master Xiangning Wu. “And antique versions are very valuable, almost priceless.” In fact, it is all so exclusive that specialist dealers get in touch with China's ultra-wealthy tea collectors, connecting those who need to sell with those who wish to buy. www.bbc.com 23. The local Chinese people think that Da Hong Pao tea ____________. a) b) c) d)
has been surprisingly expensive is as valuable as gold is not part of their tea classification system symbolizes their tea drinking art
24. As we understand from the text, Wuyishan has been a tea-making town for centuries because ____________. a) b) c) d)
it is believed to be the seat of the tea God Lu Yu, worshipped for generations the region has very appropriate geological features for tea production the first Chinese tea ceremony was performed there about 1500 years ago the tea produced there has been considered sacred by Buddhists
25. The difference between the ordinary and the much more expensive original Da Hong Pao teas is that the original version __________. a) contains very special minerals b) grows near the mountain streams of Wuyishan c) is harvested from a small group of ancient bushes d) has been specially selected by the tea masters for the kung fu tea ritual
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
Reading 6: The Sugar Conspiracy (1) Robert Lustig is a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California who specializes in the treatment of childhood obesity. A 90-minute talk he gave in 2009, titled Sugar: The Bitter Truth, has now been viewed more than six million times on YouTube. In it, Lustig argues forcefully that fructose, a form of sugar abundantly used in modern diets, is a “poison” guilty for America’s obesity epidemic. (2) A year or so before the video was posted, Lustig gave a similar talk at a conference of biochemists in Adelaide, Australia. Afterwards, a scientist in the audience approached him. Surely, the man said, you’ve read Yudkin. Lustig shook his head. John Yudkin, said the scientist, was a British professor of nutrition who had sounded the alarm on sugar back in 1972, in a book called Pure, White, and Deadly. (3) “If only a small fraction of what we know about the effects of sugar were to be revealed in relation to any other material used as a food additive,” wrote Yudkin, “that material would promptly be banned.” The book did well, but Yudkin paid a high price for it. Well-known nutritionists of his time worked together with the food industry to destroy his reputation, and his career never recovered. He died, in 1995, a disappointed, largely forgotten man. (4) Perhaps the Australian scientist intended a friendly warning. Lustig was certainly putting his academic reputation at risk when he embarked on a high-profile campaign against sugar. But, unlike Yudkin, Lustig is backed by a predominant wind. We read almost every week of new research into the harmful effects of sugar on our bodies. In the US, the latest edition of the government’s official dietary guidelines includes control on sugar consumption. In the UK, the chancellor George Osborne has announced a new tax on sugary drinks. Sugar has become dietary enemy number one. (5) This represents a dramatic change in priority. For at least the last three decades, the dietary arch-villain has been saturated fat. When Yudkin was conducting his research into the effects of sugar, in the 1960s, a new nutritional orthodoxy was in the process of asserting itself. Its central principle was that a healthy diet is a low-fat diet. Yudkin led a small group of opponents who believed that sugar, not fat, was the more likely cause of illnesses such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes. But by the time he wrote his book, the commanding heights of the field had been seized by the supporters of the fat hypothesis. Yudkin found himself fighting an impossible war, and he was defeated. Not just defeated, in fact, but buried. When Lustig returned to California, he searched for Pure, White and Deadly in bookstores and online, to no avail. Eventually, he tracked down a copy after submitting a request to his university library. On reading Yudkin’s introduction, he felt a shock of recognition. “Holy crap,” Lustig thought. “This guy got there 35 years before me.” Adapted from: www.guardian.com 26. What is the relation between nutrition scientists Robert Lustig and John Yudkin? a) b) c) d)
Lustig has been influenced by Yudgin’s much earlier work. They arrived at the same scientific results at different times. They both gave a talk at a conference of biochemists in Australia Lustig has published a book that contradicts Yudkin’s book in the same field
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
(30 points)
27. The writer believes that Lustig’s campaign against sugar is not so risky for his reputation because ____________. a) b) c) d)
the predominant view among scientists now is that sugar is harmful Yudkin’s earlier work provides strong evidence for his research he is able to reach millions of people thanks to new media technologies his influence as a scientist goes beyond the US
28. Which one of the following has been seen as the most dangerous dietary approach until recently? a) b) c) d)
Having a low-fat diet Consuming saturated fat Consuming a lot of sugar Using food additives
29. It is suggested in the text that John Yudkin was destroyed and then forgotten as a scientist because ____________. a) his research was not sufficiently developed to have an influence on the nutritionists of his time b) his emphasis on the harms of sugar was contradicting the other nutritionists’ accepted beliefs c) he didn’t want to reveal what he had known about the effects of sugar on health d) he failed to show the link between diet and illnesses such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes 30. By the expression “…by the time he wrote his book, the commanding heights of the field had been seized by the supporters of the fat hypothesis” (para. 5) the writer means that ____________. a) The copies of Yudkin’s book had been seized and could not reach the main bookstores b) there was a fierce fight between the opponents and proponents of saturated fat when the book was written c) the book on the harms of sugar influenced the top nutritionists of the time who believed in fat hypothesis d) the nutrition science was under the control of low-fat diet supporters when Yudskin published his book
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
READING SET 6 EPE PRACTICE
PART B: READING COMPREHENSION
ANSWER KEY FOR READING SET 6
1. d 2. a 3. c 4. d 5. c 6. b 7. c 8. d 9. b 10. c 11. c 12. a 13. b 14. a 15. d 16. b 17. d 18. c 19. d 20. c 21. a 22. d 23. a 24. b 25. c 26. b 27. a 28. b 29. b 30. d
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EPE Practice Materials by Nukte Durhan
(30 points)