The second leading cause of avoidable blindness, trachoma is a disease of poverty. Over the past two years, the IEF has gathered data and conducted surveys in five countries to determine the prevalence of trachoma. The IEF is developing a program which focuses on trachoma control in Mozambique and is achieving significant results in Malawi. There has been a significant reduction in active trachoma in Chikwawa District, Malawi, according to Dr. Paul Courtright, director of the Chikwawa Blindness and Trachoma Survey conducted in August 1999. The survey found that trachoma in children was 14% in 1999, down from 36.7% in 1983.
Contrary to the widely held opinion that only massive amounts of funds can wipe out the four scourges of eyesight in the third World, the IEF has shown that relatively cheap measures like the distribution of Vitamin A supplies, and sanitation and public health education can go a long way to ensuring permanent eye health.
Questions 29-35
Complete the following notes using information from the passage. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER in boxes 29-35 on your answer sheet.
The International Eye Foundation
* was set up in 1995
* as a Example Answer: non-governmental organization
* aims to wipe out 29 and operates the 30 program in poor parts of the world
* an important part of its work is supplying 31 It plans to extend this service to 32
* it will tackle the problem of cataracts through 33
* its Bolivian collaborator specializes in treatment of 34
* it has gathered information on trachoma from 35
Questions 36-39
Complete the following sentences using information in the passage. Choose the appropriate phrase A-C from the list in the box and write its letter in boxes 36-39 on your answer sheet. You may use any phrase more than once.
A more...than
B less... than/fewer...than
C as many...as/as much...as
36. Eye diseases are of a problem in the old Soviet bloc in the Thirld World.
37. "River blindness" is serious in some parts of Africa in others.
38. The IEF has saved the sight of children it thought it would.
39. Four diseases account for cases of blindness all other causes.
Questions 40-42
Below are some of the wrong ideas that the passage states people have about blindness. Match each misconception I-IV with TWO Counterarguments A-M used in the passage to argue against them. Write the appropriate letters A-M in boxes 40-42 on your answer sheet.
MISCOMCEPTION COUNTERARGUMENTS
I. Eradicating eye diseases is very expensive.
A. Four diseases cause avoidable blindness.
B. Monitoring of infants in incubators can prevent ROP.
II. Little is being done to tackle eye diseases in the Third World.
C. NGOs are putting a lot of effort into this work.
D. Population increases and people live longer.
III. Sophisticated equipment is needed to ensure eye health.
E. Sunglasses and hats with brims can help prevent cataracts.
F. Adherence to basic hygiene standards reduces cases of blindness.
IV. Doctors are helpless when faced with cases of ROP.
G. By using volunteers, the cost can be kept to the minimum.
H. USAID provides funds for IEF programs.
I. Xerophthalmia does not kill young children.
J. Relatively cheap measures like providing Vitamin A have proved effective.
K. Laser treatment can reverse ROP damage.
L. The IEF educates health officials and community leaders.
M. Trachoma is a disease of poverty.
Example Answer
Counter arguments for Misconception I: A & G
Counter arguments for Misconception II: 40
Counter arguments for Misconception III: 41
Counter arguments for Misconception IV: 42
Academic Reading Test 3
INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TESTING SYSTEM
ACADEMIC READING
TEST 3
TIME ALLOWED:
NUMBER OF QUESTIONS:
1 hour39
Instructions
WRITE ALL YOUR ANSWERS ON THE ANSWER SHEET
The test is in 3 sections:
Reading Passage 1 Questions 1-13
Reading Passage 2 Questions 14-27
Reading Passage 3 Questions 28-39
Remember to answer all the questions. If you are having trouble with a question, skip it and return to it later.
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1.
Hypnosis: Medical Tool or Illusion?
A The image most people have of the mysterious art of hypnotism is of a stage trick. But hypnotists are much more likely nowadays to be scientists seeking ways to probe the subconscious mind, or find a new way to relieve pain. But is hypnosis a real phenomenon? If so, what is it useful for? Over the past few years, researchers have found that hypnotized individuals actively respond to suggestions even though they sometimes perceive the dramatic changes in thought and behavior they experience as happening "by themselves." During hypnosis, it is as though the brain temporarily suspends its attempts to authenticate incoming sensory information. Some people are more hypnotizable than others, although scientists still don't know why. To study any phenomenon properly, researchers must first have a way to measure it. In the case of hypnosis, that yardstick is the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scales. The Stanford scales, as they are often called, were devised in the late 1950s by Stanford University psychologists. One version of the Stanford scales consists of a series of 12 activities—such as holding one's arm outstretched or sniffing the contents of a bottle—that test the depth of the hypnotic state. In the first instance, individuals are told that they are holding a very heavy ball, and they are scored as "passing" that suggestion if their arm sags under the imagined weight. In the second case, subjects are told that they have no sense of smell, and then a vial of ammonia is waved under their nose. If they have no reaction, they are deemed very responsive to hypnosis; if they grimace and recoil, they are not.
B Researchers with very different theoretical perspectives now agree on several fundamental principles of hypnosis. The first is that a person's ability to respond to hypnosis is remarkably stable during adulthood. In addition, a person's responsiveness to hypnosis also remains fairly consistent regardless of the characteristics of the hypnotist: the practitioner's gender, age and experience have little or no effect on a subject's ability to be hypnotized. Similarly, the success of hypnosis does not depend on whether a subject is highly motivated or especially willing. A very responsive subject will become hypnotized under a variety of experimental conditions and therapeutic settings, whereas a less susceptible person will not, despite his or her sincere efforts. (Negative attitudes and expectations can, however, interfere with hypnosis.)
C Under hypnosis, subjects do not behave as passive automatons but instead are active problem solvers who incorporate their moral and cultural ideas into their behavior while remaining exquisitely responsive to the expectations expressed by the experimenter. Nevertheless, the subject does not experience hypnotically suggested behavior as something that is actively achieved. To the contrary, it is typically deemed as effortless—as something that just happens. People who have been hypnotized often say things like "My hand became heavy and moved down by itself" or "Suddenly I found myself feeling no pain." Many researchers now believe that these types of disconnections are at the heart of hypnosis. In response to suggestion, subjects make movements without conscious intent, fail to detect exceedingly painful stimulation or temporarily forget a familiar fact. Of course, these kinds of things also happen outside hypnosis—occasionally in day-to-day life and more dramatically in certain psychiatric and neurological disorders.
D Scientists think that hypnosis may relieve pain by decreasing the activity of brain areas involved in the experience of suffering. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans of horizontal and vertical brain sections were taken while the hands of hypnotized volunteers were dunked into painfully hot water. The activity of the somatosensory cortex, which processes physical stimuli, did not differ whether a subject was given the hypnotic suggestion that the sensation would be painfully hot or that it would be minimally unpleasant. In contrast, a part of the brain known to be involved in the suffering aspect of pain, the anterior cingulate cortex, was much less active when subjects were told that the pain would be minimally unpleasant.
E Perhaps nowhere has hypnosis engendered more controversy than over the issue of "recovered" memory. Cognitive science has established that people are fairly adept at discerning whether an event actually occurred or whether they only imagined it. But under some circumstances, we falter. We can come to believe (or can be led to believe) that something happened to us when, in fact, it did not. One of the key cues humans appear to use in making the distinction between reality and imagination is the experience of effort. Apparently, at the time of encoding a memory, a "tag" cues us as to the amount of effort we expended: if the event is tagged as having involved a good deal of mental effort on our part, we tend to interpret it as something we imagined. If it is tagged as having involved relatively little mental effort, we tend to interpret it as something that actually happened to us. Given that the calling card of hypnosis is precisely the feeling of effortlessness, we can see why hypnotized people can so easily mistake an imagined past event for something that happened long ago. Hence, something that is merely imagined can become ingrained as an episode in our life story.
F So what are the medical benefits of hypnosis? A 1996 National Institutes of Health technology assessment panel judged hypnosis to be an effective intervention for alleviating pain from cancer and other chronic conditions. Voluminous clinical studies also indicate that hypnosis can reduce the acute pain experienced by patients undergoing burn-wound debridement, children enduring bone marrow aspirations and women in labor. The pain-relieving effect of hypnosis is often substantial, and in a few cases the degree of relief matches or exceeds that provided by morphine. Hypnosis can boost the effectiveness of psychotherapy for disorders such as obesity, insomnia, anxiety and hypertension.
Questions 1-5
Reading passage 1 has six paragraphs (A-F) . Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the appropriate numbers (i-x) in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet. Paragraph A has been done for you as an example.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs so you will not use all of them. You may use any heading more than once.
Example Answer
Paragraph A v
List of Headings
i. Effect on the Brain
ii. What Hypnosis can't do
iii. Hypnotism for All
iv. Potential for Healing
v. Scientists' Findings
vi. Experiments with Hypnosis
vii. Response of a Hypnotized Person
viii. The Dangers of Hypnotism
ix. Hypnosis and Memory
x. Growth of Interest in Hypnotism
1. Paragraph B
2. Paragraph C
3. Paragraph D
4. Paragraph E
5. Paragraph F
Questions 6-8
In the following summary of the reading passage, fill in the blanks with one word each from the list below. Write your answers in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.
Hypnotism has traditionally been used as a form of 6. But recently scientists have begun to study this 7 seriously. They are becoming convinced that hypnotism can be used not only to relieve physical pain but also as an adjunct to 8.
List of Words
1. subjects 2. entertainment 3. behavior 4. information 5. phenomenon
6. psychotherapy 7. suggestion 8. memory 9. morphine
Questions 9-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? In boxes 9-13 write:
YES if the statement agrees with the information given
NO if the statement does not agree with the information given
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this
9. Scientists have found out what makes some people easier to hypnotize than others.
10. A person who does not recoil from the smell of ammonia is not deeply hypnotized.
11. Hypnotism can be a substitute for anesthesia.
12. Hypnotism can slow the action of part of the brain.
13. More doctors are learning the technique of hypnotism.
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-27 which are based on Reading Passage 2.
NEW PLAN FOR AFRICAN REVIVAL
A African leaders have been working to make their Millennium Action Plan (MAP) for African recovery more attractive to investors and providers of financial support from outside the continent. The plan is the brainchild of Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, who wanted a way of bringing to life his vision of an "African renaissance."
B The mood of the UN millennium summit last year suggested that the world might be ready to help. Later, Tony Blair let it be known that he wanted a plan for Africa to feature in his second term as Britain's prime minister, but that he also wanted the initiative for this plan to come from Africa, and that he would then respond.
C This is what is happening. Mr Mbeki will, with the help of Mr Blair, present the plan to the G8 summit in Genoa later this year. The plan's central thesis is that Africa's development depends on its full involvement in the global economy, and that this requires a mixture of reform in Africa and assistance from other countries. The most important reforms are: establishing peace, and more democratic government; respecting human rights; investing in people by giving them better health and education; diversifying economies, and encouraging trade both within Africa and with the outside world; combating disease and boosting new technologies.
D In return for the promised reforms, the plan asks the developed world for more debt relief, the removal of trade barriers and the ending of its farm subsidies. Aid is low on the agenda, being mentioned only in the last few pages. However, some African leaders, represented by Mr. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, strongly believe that it is their right to claim more aid from the developed world in compensation for past exploitation.
E But in Africa, as in other parts of the Third World, any program that does not address the question of debt repayment is doomed to failure. In many countries in Africa governments are collecting billions of dollars from their people and giving the sums to Western governments and banks in loan repayments. Little is left for health care and education even when there is an emergency such as the one of AIDS. Last year, African countries paid $15 billion in foreign debt. But the debt keeps on growing. It is now estimated to stand between $315 billion and $375 billion.
