Muet module reading

76
GENERAL GUIDE AND TIPS FOR MUET READING
No Item Description
1 Basic criteria for text selection Length (200-700 words), level of complexity
(content and language), text type
2 Possible genres Articles from journals, newspaper and
magazines, academic texts, electronic texts
3 Rhetorical style Analytical, descriptive, persuasive,
argumentative, narrative
4 Skills tested Assessment will cover the following:
i) comprehension
 skimming and scanning
 extracting specific information
 identifying supporting details
 deriving the meaning of words, phrases,
sentences from context
 understanding linear and non-linear texts
 understanding relationships
- within a sentence
- between sentences
 recognising a paraphrase
ii) application
 predicting outcomes
 applying a concept to a new situation
ii) analysis
 understanding language functions
 interpreting linear and non-linear texts
 distinguishing the relevant from the
irrelevant
 distinguishing fact from opinion
 making inferences
iii) synthesis
 relating ideas and concepts
- within a paragraph
- between paragraphs
 following the development of a point or an
argument
 summarising information
iv) evaluation
 appraising information
 making judgements
 drawing conclusions
 recognising and interpreting writer’s
views, attitudes or intentions

77
TIPS FOR READING GRAPHICAL TEXT
Before Reading During Reading
 Determine the type of text and the
elements used.
 Examine the titles, headings,
captions and images.
 Recall what you already know about
the topic or subject.
 Record some questions you might
have about the information
presented.
 Read all the labels and examine
how they are related to the graphics.
 Follow the arrows and lines.
 Look for colour or symbols and the
legend or key that explains them.
 Study the image carefully and use
the figure number or title and key.
words to find the related information
in the text.
 Identify the relationships among the
visual and information presented.
TIPS FOR READING LITERARY TEXTS
Before Reading During Reading
 Read the title and think what the
passage might be about.
 Look at any illustrations.
 Look the text over and note its
length, organisation, level of
language and structure.
 Ask questions and make
predictions.
 Form opinions and think about
possible responses.
 Picture the settings, events or
images in your mind.
 Make connections to what you
already know.

78
PRACTICE 1
Questions 1 to 7 are based on the following passage.
1
2
3
4
People everywhere are living longer, according to the World Health Statistics 2014
published by World Health Organisation (WHO). Based on global averages, a girl
who was born in 2012 can expect to live to around 73 years, and a boy to the age
of 68. This is six years longer than the average global life expectancy for a child
born in 1990.
WHO’s annual statistics report shows that low-income countries have made
the greatest progress, with an average increase in life expectancy by nine years
from 1990 to 2012. The top six countries where life expectancy increased the most
were Liberia which saw a 20-year increase (from 42 years in 1990 to 62 years in
2012) followed by Ethiopia (from 45 to 64 years), Maldives (58 to 77 years),
Cambodia (54 to 72 years), Timor-Leste (50 to 66 years) and Rwanda (48 to 65
years).
‘An important reason why global life expectancy has improved so much is that
fewer children are dying before their fifth birthday,” says Dr Margaret Chan, WHO
Director-General. “But there is still a major rich-poor divide: People in high-income
countries continue to have a much better chance of living longer than people in
low-income countries.”
Wherever they live in the world, women live longer than men. The gap
between male and female life expectancy is greater in high-income countries
where women live around six years longer than men. In low-income countries, the
difference is around three years.
5
10
15
20

79
5 “In high-income countries, much of the gain in life expectancy is due to
success in tackling non-communicable diseases,” says Dr Ties Boerma, Director
of the Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems at WHO. “Fewer
men and women are dying before they get to their 60th
birthday from heart disease
and stroke. Richer countries have become better at monitoring and managing high
blood pressure for example.” Declining tobacco use is also a key factor in helping
people live longer in several countries.
(Adapted from World Health Statistics, 2014)
25
1 According to WHO, a boy born in 1990 can expect to live until the age of 62
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
2 From 1990 to 2012, Cambodia showed an increase of life expectancy by nine years.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
3 There is a major gap between rich and poor countries in terms of life expectancy since
parents in richer countries have fewer children.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
4 Fewer children under the age of five are dying because parents, income has
increased.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
5 Figure 1 shows that a boy born in 2012 in a high-income country can expect to live to
the age of about 72.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
6 Women live longer because fewer of them smoke.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

80
7. In low-income countries, it is more difficult to control communicable than non-
communicable diseases.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
1
2
3
4
5
Could nature tourism be bad for wild animals’ health? It is an idea that has been
suggested in a recent report that tested for stress hormones in orangutan
excrement.
Researchers from the University of Indiana and eco-tourism group Red Ape
Encounters spent 14 years studying two apes in Sabah, Malaysia, which were
used to seeing humans. By testing the animals’ faeces they found that the
orangutans’ stress levels were higher than normal the day after coming into
contact with humans. “As for the unknown wild orangutans that were also able to
gather samples from, we found numerically, but not statistically, higher stress
hormone levels in these animals following contact with researchers than in the
rehabilitated animals,” said Michael Muehlenbein, of the University of Indiana and
one of the authors of the report.
Muehlenbein is keen to point out that there was no indication from the study
of any long term changes in behaviour of the orangutans, as Red Ape Encounters
limits the number of people on their tours to seven and the visits to one hour. Yet
pathological effects like impaired cognition, growth and reproduction could be a
consequence of less sensitive wildlife tours, believes Muehlenbein.
As the value of eco-tourism increases each year, so too do the chances of
money being more important than animal welfare. However Liz Macfie, gorilla
coordinator for the Wildlife Conservation Society and co-author of the
International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) “Best Practice Guidelines
for Great Ape Tourism” believes that most eco-tour companies are trying to do
the right thing.
“More and more sites are trying hard to minimise the impact on the animals,”
she said, pointing out the success of conservation and tourism projects with
mountain gorillas in central Africa. “Mountain gorilla tourism is one of the reasons
they have continued to flourish. They are the only sub-species of gorilla whose
number is actually growing and they are visited by tourists on a daily basis. “The
gorillas are worth more to Rwanda, Uganda and Congo because of the tourism.
Not just the value of the tour, but the money the tourists then put into the local
economy. So they have a monetary value.”
5
10
15
20
25
30

81
6
7
Yet Macfie is aware that only a limited number of sites could have the success
seen with mountain gorillas. As long as travellers are aware of the environmental
impact of the tours they take, and operators are adhering to the principles of the
IUNC guidelines, Macfie believes that the growth in eco-tourism is generally
positive.
“Tourists don’t all want to drive around a savannah park with hundreds of
other vehicles and I think that’s the same with ape tourism,” she said. Sometimes
there can be over one hundred people crowded around feeding stations, looking
at two or three orangutans that have come in. In that situation there’s great
potential for disease transmission and interaction between humans and
orangutans.”
(Adapted from Orangutans stressed by eco-tourists, CNN, March 26, 2012)
35
40
8 Stress hormones can be found in animal faeces.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
9 There are many wildlife tours that consider the impact of human contact on
orangutans.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
10 Not many visitors are interested to go on wildlife tours.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
11 Eco-tourism companies are considered ethical although
A. there appears to be an impact on the animal welfare
B. monetary considerations seem to outweigh the welfare of the animals
C. The Best Practice Guidelines for Great Ape Tourism are not strictly followed
12 Paragraph 5 illustrates the success story of
A. conservation efforts and tourism
B. inter-government efforts and wildlife conservation
C. the breeding of animals and growing number of tourist sites
13 An increased number of tourists to savannah parks could lead to
A. overfeeding of the apes
B. too much interaction between humans and apes
C. the spread of diseases between humans and apes

82
14 What is Macfie’s attitude towards eco-tourism in general?
A. She is optimistic about the development of eco-tourism.
B. She is apprehensive of tour operators’ commitment to the IUCN guidelines.
C. She is sceptical about the awareness of eco-tourists regarding the environment.
1
2
3
4
5
Take a close look at your fingertips. Use a magnifying glass if you have to. Look
at the whorls, loops and arches. If you have a concentric whorl, high chances are
that you have high levels of initiative, enthusiasm and determination. You may
also be independent, competitive and bossy. A tented arch is a sign of a good
learner but it may also indicate impulsiveness. A loop pointing towards the thumb
signifies an easy-going personality but at the same time, you could also be one
sensitive soul. If you have a combination of all three, there is a high chance that
you possess multiple characteristics and may even be volatile.
Welcome to the world of “dermatoglyphics” or, in short, the business of self-
discovery through the study of one’s fingerprints. Explaining how it all works is
Marcus Leng, 29, from GeneCode International, which makes use of
dermatoglyphics to provide consultation services on talent profiling for individual
and corporate clients.
A member of the American Dermatoglyphics Association with three years’
experience and having handled over a thousand cases, Leng was drawn to the
field of fingerprint study when a Chinese professor did a scanning and analysis
for him at a seminar. In 2006, Leng took a 10-day course in the subject at the
Taiwan Overseas Chinese Convention Centre. The event was organised by the
Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission (OCAC) in collaboration with Yuen Ze
University.
Dermatoglyphics, asserts Leng, is not palmistry presented in a different
packaging. “We do not give ‘predictions’ on what is going to happen. Instead, we
adopt a positive stance by looking at the ridge counts which indicates a person’s
learning efficiency and inborn talents,” says Leng. To show the relation of fingertip
patterns and the personalities of an indivudal, Leng refers to the document
entitled Using Dermatoglyphics From Down Syndrome And Class Populations To
Study The Genetics of A Complex Trait. The thesis was written in 1990 by
Thomas Fogle, an associate professor in the biology department at Saint Mary’s
College, United States. Fogle’s research interests include the chromosomal study
of humans and exotic zoo animals.
According to Fogle’s paper, fingerprint patterns can start to form from as early
as the sixth or the seventh week of fertilisation. Ridge growth and patterning is
believed to coincide with nerve and tissue development. The whole process
inadvertently boils down to genetic influences or nerve growth. “There is a full
5
10
15
20
25
30

83
6
7
8
explanation on the above theory in a research paper from the Centre of
Anthropological Studies at Fudan University, Shanghai, in 2003. During practical
sessions, the finger and palm prints of mentally retarded children were recorded
and studied. This research states that the total number of ridge counts are an
indication of a person’s learning capabilities,” says Leng.
And yes, humankind has used the knowledge to their benefit. One of Leng’s
favourite examples is revealing how the former Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR) and the People’s Republic of China had used dermatoglyphics
to recruit talents for the Olympic games in the 1970s. As it turned out, the USSR
took home 50 gold medals in 1972 and 125 in 1976. By the 1980s, China had
also adopted the Russian method of selecting sporting talents.
Not surprisingly, the field of dermatoglyphics is also gaining popularity in
Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, achieving a market value of several hundred
million dollars in Taiwan alone. Most times, it is the parents who send their
children’s fingerprints for analysis, in the hope that the results will help them plan
for their children’s education.
In addition to free demos in local schools and universities, Leng has also
done analyses for various organisations and companies. “The whole idea is to
help the CEOs understand their staff’s talents for human resource optimisation
purposes,” says Leng. No doubt, fingerprint study is seen as an invaluable tool
for discovering one’s abilities and in determining the right career paths.
(Adapted from The Star Online, January 2010)
35
40
45
50
55
15 In paragraph 1, the writer gives examples of
A. whorls, loops and arches on fingerprints
B. personality that determines a person’s fingerprints
C. how a person’s fingerprints are usually interpreted
16 Which of the following is true about paragraph 3?
A. Leng studied further about dermatoglyphics in Taiwan.
B. Leng was introduced to a Chinese professor who became his teacher.
C. Leng became interested in fingerprint study after he joined the association.
17 The main idea of paragraph 4 is that
A. studies related to dermatoglyphics have shown positive results
B. dermatoglyphics is different from the predictive style of palmistry
C. a person’s talents can be revealed through the ridge counts on the fingerprints

84
18 Why did Leng mention Fudan University research?
A. To support Fogle’s research findings
B. To emphasise the importance of fingerprint study
C. To describe how fingerprint study can help mentally retarded children
19 Dermatoglyphics is popular Asian countries because
A. It is well marketed in these countries
B. Parents want to plan their children’s future
C. The educational level of children can be predicted
20 Dermatoglyphics has contributed in the following areas except
A. selection of talents in sports
B. recruitment of new employees
C. determining one’s learning abilities
21 The writer ends the passage by
A. stating his optimism on fingerprint study as a career
B. giving assurance on the usefulness of fingerprint study
C. expressing his belief that fingerprint study will develop further

85
1
2
3
4
We live on a malarious planet. It may not seem that way from the vantage point
of a wealthy country, where malaria is sometimes thought of, if it is thought of at
all, as a problem that has mostly been solved, like smallpox or polio. In truth,
malaria now affects more people than ever before. It is endemic to 106 nations,
threatening half of the world’s population. In recent years, the parasite has grown
so entrenched and has developed resistance to so many drugs that the most
potent strains can scarcely be controlled. This year malaria will strike up to half a
billion people. At least a million will die, most of them under the age of five, the
vast majority living in Africa. That is more than twice the annual toll a generation
ago.
Only in the past few years has malaria captured the full attention of aid
agencies and donors. The World Health Organisation has made malaria reduction
a chief priority. Bill Gates, who has called malaria “the worst thing on the planet,”
has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the effort. Funds donated to malaria
have doubled since 2003. The idea is to disable the disease by combining virtually
every known malaria-fighting technique, from the ancient (Chinese herbal
medicines) to the old (mosquito nets) to the ultramodern (multidrug cocktails). At
the same time, malaria researchers are pursuing a long-sought elusive goal: A
vaccine that would curb the disease for good.
Much of the aid is going to a few hard-hit countries scattered across sub-
Saharan Africa. If these nations can beat back the disease, they will serve as
templates for the global antimalarial effort. One of these spotlighted countries is
Zambia. It is difficult to comprehend how thoroughly Zambia has been devastated
by malaria. In some provinces, at any time given, more than a third of all children
under the age of five are sick with the disease. Worse than the sheer numbers is
the type of malaria found in Zambia. Four species of malaria parasites routinely
infect humans: The most virulent, by far, is Plasmodium falciparum. About half of
all malaria cases worldwide are caused by falciparum, and 95 per cent of the
deaths. It is the only form of malaria that can attack the brain. With it can do so
With extreme speed – few infectious agents can overwhelm the body as swiftly
as falciparum. Falciparum is a major reason nearly 20 per cent of all Zambian
babies born do not live to see their fifth birthday.
All of Zambia, it seems – from the army to the Boy Scouts to local theatre
troupes – has been mobilised to stop malaria. In 1985, the nation’s malaria-
control budget was 30 000 dollars. Now, supported with international grant
money, it is more than 40 million. Posters have been hung throughout the country,
informing people of the causes and symptoms of malaria and stressing the
importance of medical intervention. The vast majority of the nation’s malaria
cases are never treated by professionals. Zambia’s plan is to educate the public,
and then beat the disease through a three-pronged assault.
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40

86
5
6
The country has dedicated itself to dispensing the newest malaria cure, which
also happens to be based on one of the oldest herbal medicines called Artemisia.
The new version, artemisinin, is as powerful as quinine with few of the side
effects. To help reduce the odds that a mutation will also disarm artemisinin,
derivatives of the drug are mixed with other compounds in an antimalarial
baggage known as artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT). Zambia is also
purchasing enough insecticide to spray every house in several of the most
malarious areas every year, just before the rainy season. It has already returned
to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) – though just for indoor use, in
controlled quantities. Finally, the Zambian government is distributing insecticide-
treated mosquito nets to ward off mosquitoes during the night, when the malaria-
carrying Anopheles almost always bites.
Despite difficulties in the dispensing of drugs and distribution of mosquito
nets, Zambia’s campaign has started to produce results. In 2000, a study showed
that fewer than two per cent of children under the age of five slept under an
insecticide-treated bed net. Six years later, the number had risen to 23 per cent.
The government of Zambia says an AZT known as Coartem is now available, cost
free to the entire population. In a country that was steadily losing 50 000 children
a year to malaria, early indications are that the death rate has already been
reduced by more than a third.
(Adapted from National Geographic, July 2007)
45
50
55
60
22 In paragraph 1, which of the following is not a fact?
A. Malaria has been wiped out in prosperous countries.
B. Malaria is difficult to curb because the parasites are resistant to drugs.
C. Malaria kills double the number of African children it did a generation ago.
23 The main focus of paragraph 2 is the
A. Search for a vaccine that would curb malaria
B. Involvement of aid agencies in combating malaria
C. Use of a combination of techniques to control malaria
24 The word templates (line 22) is closet in meaning to
A. copies
B. models
C. imitations
25 What is true about falciparum malaria?
A. It is mostly attacks children below five.
B. It is the most dangerous form of disease.
C. It causes the deaths of about 20 percent of children in Zambia.

87
26
All of Zambia, it seems-from the army to the Boy Scouts to local theatre-has
been mobilised to stop malaria ( lines 33 and 34 )
This means that Zambia is
A. Involving everyone in the fight against malaria
B. Making everyone help to raise funds for malaria control
C. Informing everyone of the importance of getting treatment for malaria
27 The phrase a three-pronged assault (line 40) involves the use of
A. drugs, sprays and mosquito nets
B. knowledge, funds and treatment
C. professional help, insecticides and ACT
28 What is possibly the most effective solution to curb malaria?
A. A vaccine
B. Insecticide-treated bed nets
C. An ACT known as Coartem
29 The article ends on
A. a neutral note
B. a cautious note
C. a promising note

88
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Are we all just puppets on a string? Most people would like to assume that their
fate lies in their own hands. But they would be wrong. Often, we are as helpless,
being jerked about by someone else’s subtle influence.
“What we’re finding more and more in psychology is that lots of the decisions
we make are influenced by things we are not aware of,” says Jay Olson at McGill
University, who recently created an ingenious experiment showing just how
easily we are manipulated by the gentlest persuasion. The question is, can we
learn to spot those tricks, and how can we use them to our own advantage?
Olson has spent a lifetime exploring the subtle ways of tricking people’s
perception, and it all began with magic. “I started magic tricks when I was five
and performing when I was seven,” he says. As an undergraduate in psychology,
he found the new understanding of the mind often chimed with the skills he had
learnt with his hobby. “Lots of what they said about attention and memory were
just what magicians had been saying in a different way,” he says.
One card trick, in particular, captured his imagination as he set about his
research. It involved flicking through a deck in front of an audience member, who
is asked to pick a card randomly. Unknown to the volunteer, he already worked
out which card they would choose, allowing him to reach into his pocket and pluck
the exact card they had named – much to the astonishment of the crowd.
The secret apparently, is to linger on your chosen card as you riffle through
the deck. In our conversation, Olson would not divulge how he engineers that to
happen, but others claim that folding the card very slightly seems to cause it to
stick in sight. Those few extra milliseconds mean that it sticks in the mind,
causing the volunteer to pick it when they are pushed for a choice.
As a scientist, Olson’s first task was to formally test his success rate. He
already knew he was pretty effective, but the results were truly staggering –
Olson managed to direct 103 out of 105 of the participants. Unsurprisingly, that
alone has attracted a fair amount of media attention – but it was the next part of
the study that was most surprising to Olson, since it shows us just how easily our
mind is manipulated.
For instance, when he questioned the volunteers afterwards, he was shocked
to find that 92 per cent of the volunteers had absolutely no idea that they had
been manipulated and felt that they had been in complete control of their
decisions. Even more surprisingly, a large proportion went as far as to make up
imaginary reasons for their choice. “One person said ‘I chose the 10 of hearts
because 10 is a high number and I was thinking of hearts before the experiment
started’,” says Olson – despite the fact that it was really Olson who had made the
decision. What is more, Olson found that things like personality type did not seem
to have much influence on how likely someone was to be influenced – we all
5
10
15
20
25
30
35

89
8
9
10
seem equally vulnerable. Nor did the specific properties of the cards – the colour
or number – seem to make success any less likely.
The implications extend far beyond the magician’s stage, and should cause
us to reconsider our perceptions of personal will. Despite a strong sense of
freedom, our ability to make deliberate decisions may often be an illusion.
“Having a free choice is just a feeling – it isn’t linked with the decision itself,” says
Olson.
Don’t believe him? Consider when you go to a restaurant for a meal. Olson
says you are twice as likely to choose from the very top or very bottom of the
menu – because those areas first attract your eye. “But if someone asks you why
did you choose the salmon, you’ll say you were hungry for salmon, “says Olson.
“You won’t say it was one of the first things I looked at on the menu.” In other
words, we confabulate to explain our choice, despite the fact it had already been
primed by the restaurant.
Clearly, this kind of knowledge could be used for coercion in the wrong
hands, so it’s worth knowing how to spot others trying to bend you to their will
without you realising. We may all be puppets guided by subtle influences, but if
you can start to recognise who’s pulling the strings, you can at least try to push
back.
(Adapted from BBC News, March 24,2015)
40
45
50
55
30 ‘puppets on a string…..(line 1) refers to individuals who
A. are weak
B. accept their fate
C. are being controlled
D. obey rules and regulations
31 The point the writer is making in paragraph 3 is
A. people can be easily tricked by magic
B. magicians think differently from others
C. magic is a figment of one’s imagination
D. psychologists and magicians share the same understanding of attention and
memory
32 What conclusion can be drawn from the results of Olson’s study?
A. People can easily persuaded.
B. People often fall for magic tricks.
C. People tend to justify their choices.
D. People seldom admit they have been tricked.

90
33 That (line 29) refers to
A. first task
B. the study
C. success rate
D. staggering results
34 According to the writer, when someone places an order at a restaurant, the decision
A. was randomly made
B. was guided by attractive visuals
C. was influenced by the restaurant
D. was based on personal preference
35 confabulate (line 52) means
A. to tell a lie
B. to make a guess
C. to describe in detail
D. to make up a reason
36 The advice given in the last paragraph is for all to
A. keep away from influences
B. identify others trying to influence you
C. be aware of influences and to try to resist them
D. be conscious of the existence of influences and tactics used
37 The intention of the writer is
A. to entertain
B. to motivate
C. to persuade
D. to enlighten

91
1
2
3
It is easy to see why economists would embrace cities, warts and all, as engines
of prosperity. It has taken longer for environmentalists. By increasing income,
cities increase consumption and pollution too. If what you value most is nature,
cities look like concentrated piles of damage - until you consider the alternative,
which is spreading the damage. From an ecological standpoint, says Stewart
Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog and now a champion of urbanisation,
a back-to-the-land ethic would be disastrous. Cities allow half of humanity to live
on around four per cent of the arable land, leaving more space for open country.
Per capita, city dwellers tread more lightly in other ways as well, as David Owen
explains in Green Metropolis. Their roads, sewers, and power lines are shorter
and so use 10 fewer resources. Their apartments take less energy to heat, cool,
and light than do houses. Most important, people in dense cities drive less. Their
destinations are close enough to walk to, and enough people are going to the
same places to make public transit practical. In cities like New York, per capita
energy use and carbon emissions are much lower than the national average.
Cities in developing countries are even denser and use fewer resources. But
that is mostly because poor people do not consume a lot. Dharav, Mumbai's
largest slum, may be a "model of low emissions," says David Satterthwaite of
London's International Institute for Environment and Development, but its
residents lack safe water, toilets and garbage collection. So do perhaps a billion
other city dwellers in 2C developing countries. And it is such cities the United
Nations (UN) projects, that will absorb most of the world's population increase
between now and 2050 - more than two billion people. How their governments
respond will affect us all. Many are responding the way Britain did to the growth
of London in the 19th
century: By trying to stop it. A UN survey reports that 72 per
cent of developing countries have adopted policies designed to stem the tide of
migration to their cities. But it is a mistake to see urbanisation itself as evil rather
than as an inevitable part of development, says Satterthwaite, who advises
governments and associations of slum dwellers around the world. “I don’t get
scared by rapid growth,” he says. “I meet African mayors who tell me, “There are
too many people moving here!” I tell them, “No, the problem is your inability to
govern them.”
The fear of urbanisation has not been good for cities, or for their
countries, or for the planet. In 1971, as Seoul's population was skyrocketing past
five million, its leader surrounded the city with a wide greenbelt to halt further
development, just as London had in 1947. Both greenbelts preserved open
space, but neither stopped the growth of the city; people now commute from
suburbs that leapfrogged the restraints. "Greenbelts have had the effect of
pushing people farther out, sometimes absurdly far," says Peter Half, a planner
and historian at University College London. Brasilia, the planned capital of Brazil,
was designed for 500 000 people; two million more now live beyond the lake and
park that were supposed to block the city's expansion. When you try to stop urban
growth, it seems, you just amplify sprawl.
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40

92
4
5
Sprawl preoccupies urban planners today, as its antithesis, density, did a
century ago. London is no longer decried as a tumour. Greenbelts are hardly the
cause of sprawl; most cities do not have them. Other government policies, such
as subsidies for highways and home ownership, have coaxed the suburbs
outward. So has that other great shaper of the destiny of cities - the choices made
by individual residents. Sprawl is not just a Western phenomenon. By consulting
satellite images, old maps, and census data, Shalom Angel, an urban planning
professor at New York University, has tracked how 120 cities changed in shape
and population density between 1990 and 2000. Even in developing countries
most cities are spreading out faster than people pour into them. What is driving
the expansion? Rising incomes and cheap transportation. "When income rises,
people have money to buy more space," Angel explains.
Developing cities will inevitably expand, says Angel. Somewhere between
the anarchy that prevails in many today and the utopianism that has often
characterised urban planning lies a modest kind of planning that could make a
big difference. It requires looking decades ahead, Angel says, and reserving land,
before the city grows over it, for parks and a dense grid of public-transit corridors.
It starts looking at growing cities in a positive way - not as diseases, but as
concentrations of human energy to be organised and tapped.
(Adapted from National Geographic, December 2011)
45
50
55
60
38 The main idea of paragraph 1 is
A. the benefits of cities
B. cities lifting people out of poverty
C. city dwellers require fewer resources
D. city dwelling being the solution to the population boom
39 Which of the statements is true of paragraph 2?
A. Curbing urban migration is an effective policy.
B. Mumbai is a model city of environment conservation.
C. London has been successful in managing the inflow of migrants.
D. Most cities in developing countries are overcrowded because of poor planning.
40 In paragraph 2, the main concern is
A. lack of basic facilities in the cities
B. creation of more slums in the cities
C. increasing flow of migration into the cities
D. authority’s response to the rapid growth of the cities

93
41 Which of the following is Satterthwaite’s opinion?
A. Growth of cities is an essential part of development.
B. There are too many people moving into the cities.
C. Urbanisation is bad for developing countries.
D. There is a need to supervise city dwellers.
42 The following are the effects of greenbelts except
A. expanding sprawls
B. preserving open spaces
C. restricting city development
D. increasing commuting into cities
43 … antithesis (line 44) can best be replaced by
A. comparison
B. characteristic
C. direct opposite
D. clear distinction
44 Which of the following has the least impact on sprawl?
A. Greenbelts
B. Rising income
C. Personal choice
D. Home ownership subsidy
45 The article ends with
A. a suggestion to plan ahead
B. a warning of overcrowding
C. a recommendation for more parks
D. a justification for developing more public transportation

94
PRACTICE 2
1
2
3
Since 1995, the National Sporting Goods Association has been tracking the
number of American children and adults who participate in various sports. By
comparing 1995 to 2005, we can see that while some old standards like baseball,
swimming, tennis and volleyball are declining in the number of participants – by
an average of 13 per cent – what is on the rise are the more individual, nature-
based sports, many of which, twenty years ago, no one had ever heard of.
Changes in Sports Participation, 1995 -2005 (Selected Sports)
Sports
1995
Participants
(in million)
2005
Participants
(in million)
Percentage
growth
Skateboarding 4.5 12.2 171.1
Kayaking/rafting 3.5 7.6 117.1
Snowboarding 2.8 6.0 114.3
Archery 4.9 6.8 38.8
Mountain-biking 6.7 9.2 37.3
Backpacking/camping 10.2 13.3 30.4
Hunting
(bow and arrow)
5.3 6.6 24.5
Soccer 12 14.1 17.5
Golf 24 24.7 2.9
Basketball 30.1 29.9 -0.7
Fishing 44.2 43.3 -0.2
Swimming 61.5 58 -5.7
Baseball 15.7 14.6 -7.0
Tennis 12.6 11.1 -11.9
Bicycle-riding 56.3 43.1 -23.4
Volleyball 18 13.2 -26.7
Roller-skating 23.9 13.1 -45.2
As you can see from the chart above, the fastest growing sport in America in
the past ten years was skateboarding, now taken up by over 12 million people.
That is nearly the same number of Americans who have ever played baseball.
Next was kayaking/rafting, at over 7 million – and then snowboarding. No one
ever heard of snowboarding until 1980, and now 6 million people do it.
Snowboarders make up almost 1 in 3 users of ski resorts. Other fast growing
sports in America are mountain-biking, with 9 million participants: archery, with
nearly 7 million; backpacking, with 13 million; and-get this-hunting with bow and
arrow, with nearly 7 million!
What is going on here is that Big Sports (baseball and basketball) have for
some people, become just a little too big, and smaller sports give them just a little
more space to play, breathe and engage their hearts. In the past ten years,
watching and playing Big Sports have become increasingly taxing. Furthermore,
Big Sports are perceived as hyper-corporate – what with their stadiums, garish
wall-to-wall advertisements, and out-of-control player salaries. Of course, there
are still plenty of available fans, but Big Sports are facing some significant
leakage to new activities.
5
10
15
20

95
4
5
The niching of sports is a perfect example of how more and more people are
splintering off from the crowd to find greater individual satisfaction. Whereas
sports used to be the way that the whole school – and later, the whole city –
would come together to cheer the community’s toughest males in battle against
their rivals, now a growing number of people are saying: good luck at the game,
but I’m going kayaking.
Sports in America are far from declining. They are just shifting from a
communal rite to a personal one. What used to be a galvanising event to bring
us all together has become the opposite. Now sports help us retreat often alone,
and often to the mountains, the woods or the water. The growing trend in sports
in America skews towards the individual, the quiet and the natural. As for me, I’m
all for the cheering crowd.
(Adapted from Mark J.Penn, Micro Trends, Twelve,
Hachette Book Group USA, 2007)
1 The National Sporting Goods Association studied trends in sports participation
in America over a twenty year period.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
2 Skateboarding attracted the most number of participants in 2005.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
3 The writer is surprised that hunting with a bow and arrow attracted nearly 7
million participants.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
4 Golf has grown at more than twice the rate of the growth of soccer.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
5 More people are watching Big Sports than participating in them.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
25
30
35

96
6 The expression ….but I’m going kayaking (line 29) implies that people are
moving away from communal to individual sports.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
7 The writer prefers the current trend in sports participation.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

97
1
2
3
4
5
6
Pepsi and Starbucks share a problem. The second biggest maker of cola and the
world’s largest chain of coffee shops are both worried about how customers
perceive their brands. “Pepsi has always been about ‘experience’, says a
marketing executive. The trouble is that consumers are increasingly experiencing
healthier soft drinks and bottled water, rather than sugary cola. Starbucks,
meanwhile, may have expanded too quickly, which is why Howard Schulz, its
chairman, worries that the ‘Starbucks experience’ is under threat.
In an internal memo sent to senior Starbucks executives, which was leaked
onto the Internet, Schulz says that the expression from 1000 to more than 13 000
shops over the past ten years has led to a watering down of the Starbucks
experience and to what some might call the ‘commoditisation of the brand’. One
result, says Schulz, is that some people find its stores “sterile, cookie-cutter, no
longer reflecting the passion our partners feel about coffee.”
Starbucks and Pepsi rank among the 50 most valuable brands in the world,
according to Brandz, a market research company. Both have prospered by
exploiting their strong brands to sell what are really commodities – coffee and
cola – at premium prices. A cup of coffee costs about three times more at
Starbucks than at an ordinary coffee shop and Pepsi sells for 60% to 70% more
per litre than supermarkets’ own-label cola. Now both companies are at risk from
a growing sense that their products are indeed just commodities, says Passikoff,
founder of Brand Keys, a brand consultancy.
In his memo, Schulz suggests that the company needs to go back to its roots.
From its beginnings in the 1970s, Starbucks set out to be a ‘third place’ to spend
time, in addition to home and work. The smell of fresh coffee beans is supposed
to waft through brightly lit cafes fitted with tables and comfortable chairs.
Electrical plugs let customers recharge their portable music-players or laptop
computers. Most Starbucks in America, and in some other countries, provide
wireless Internet access.
But during its expansion, Starbucks installed automatic espresso machines
rather than hand-pulled ones, added drive-through windows for motorists and
started to sell hot food, mugs and even CDs. As McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts and
other fast-food chains moved up-market, Starbucks looked less distinctive.
Consumer Reports, an American magazine that publishes reviews of consumer
products, recently rated McDonald’s coffee more highly than that sold at
Starbucks.
Pepsi’s problem is that it is a big brand in a shrinking market. Sales of
carbonated soft drinks declined from 10.24 billion cases in 2004 to 10.18 billion
cases in 2005, according to Beverage Marketing, a research company. The main
reason for the decline is growing concern about obesity. Last month, Pepsi
launched a global restyling of its Pepsi cans, with a series of 35 new designs with
themes such as music, sports or fashion. The globe logo and the lettering on the
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40

98
7
cans will remain the same, but a new theme will make its debut every few weeks.
Each one has its own website with video clips and other enticements to engage
consumers. The aim is to represent the ‘fun, optimistic and youthful’ spirit of
Pepsi, says the firm. “It’s a facelift, but I am not sure whether it will make such
difference to margins,” says Robert Van Brugge, a beverage analyst at Stanford
Bernstein. Passikoff says changing the packaging is a tired brand’s last refuge.
During its 109-year history, Pepsi has undergone many re-brandings, but
none on this scale. By next year, the current red, blue and white Pepsi containers
would have disappeared from the shelves. The company instead promises a
‘sustained discovery’ for people of all ages and –not surprisingly – a new
‘experience’.
(Adapted from The Economist, March 3, 2007)
8 Pepsi and Starbucks are worried that their brands are losing their
distinctiveness.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
9 The rapid expansion of Starbucks has led to a loss of revenue.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
10 Pepsi and Starbucks are losing their customers mainly because pf their high
prices.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated
11 The main point of paragraph 4 is to
A. describe the original set-up of Starbucks.
B. compare the atmosphere of Starbucks and the home.
C. recommend that Starbucks returns to its original business strategies.
12 ……fast-food chains moved up-market (line 32) means that
A. their products have become more expensive and appealing to the rich
B. they have expanded their range of products
C. they have relocated to exclusive areas
13 Robert Van Brugge and Passikoff ___________ about Pepsi’s rebranding
efforts.
A. worried
B. doubtful
C. enthusiastic
45
50

99
14 Pepsi’s profits have dropped because
A. Pepsi is considered old fashioned.
B. too much was spent on advertising.
C. consumers have become more health conscious.
1
2
3
4
Big, bad carbon dioxide (CO2) gets most of the attention when it comes to
greenhouse gases, but it is not the only one that is warming the earth. Methane
– a gas that is found in everything from landfills to cow stomachs also plays a big
role. Although global methane-emissions levels are much lower than CO2
emissions, pound for pound methane is a more powerful greenhouse gas; a ton
of it has 23 times the warming effect of a CO2. And methane, like CO2 is on the
rise, thanks to us: about 60% of global methane emissions come from man-made
sources, and the atmospheric concentration of methane has increased by around
150% since 1950, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Now there is new focus on a pair of methane sources that we usually do not think
of as natural polluters: wetlands and rice paddies.
Separating the factors that contribute to climate change from the things that
help reverse it is not always easy because sometimes they are one and the same.
Trees sop up CO2, for example, but when they die and decay, they release it
back into the air. Wetlands and rice paddies serve a similar dual role for both
CO2 and methane, acting as sources and sinks simultaneously. The challenge
has been trying to tease out how those two functions balance out, but a new
paper in the January 14 issue of Science has provided some hard numbers.
Using satellite data, investigators determined that wetlands contribute from 53%
to 58% of global methane emissions and that rice paddies are responsible for
more than a quarter of that output. The study could help make climate-change
models more accurate, and help scientists understand whether increasing
temperatures will lead to even higher methane emissions in the future. “It’s all
about more accurately describing climate in these models,” says Paul Palmer, a
geoscientist at the University of Edinburgh and co-author of the Science paper.
There has been a steady increase in wetlands methane emissions from 003
and 2007 – and most of that increase was due to wetlands in the temperate
regions north or south of the tropics. Moreover, emissions from Arctic wetlands –
they do exist – were increasing fastest of all, up more than 30% between 2003
and 2007. That could be due to overall warming. “Most climate models say the
surface is going to warm at higher latitudes, and this is going to have serious
implications for emissions from wetlands,” says Palmer.
Indeed, many scientists worry that we could reach a tipping point at which
warming could begin to melt the Arctic permafrost and unleash masses of buried
methane – which would them further warm the atmosphere, releasing more
methane and continuing in a dangerous feedback cycle. But if we are going to
prevent that from happening, we are going to have to find a way other than
5
10
15
20
25
30
35

100
reducing methane emissions from wetlands. Global food requirements mean that
we cannot cut back seriously on rice paddy cultivation, and wetlands are far too
important to the environment as groundwater filters and buffers against coastal
floods. “I just don’t see any way to control methane emissions from wetlands,”
says Palmer. Instead, we will need to focus on methane emissions from man-
made sources – like landfills or natural gas drilling – and cut what is still
greenhouse gas number 1:CO2
(Adapted from http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1953751,00.html)
15 In paragraph 1, the writer says that methane is
A. a stronger greenhouse gas than CO2
B. more to be blamed than CO2 for global warming
C. not usually identified as an agent in global warming
16 It is difficult to control global warming because
A. wetlands and paddy fields release both methane and CO2 at the same
time
B. the sources of methane and CO2 are themselves beneficial to the
environment
C. of the inability to balance advantages against disadvantages of methane
and CO2
17 The comment they do exist ( line 29 ) conveys a sense of
A. disbelief
B. certainty
C. disappointment
18 ………and this is going to have serious implications ……(lines 31 and 32).
This refers to
A. overall warming
B. warming at higher latitudes
C. methane emission from the Arctic wetlands
19 ……a tipping point ( line 33 ) means
A. a crucial moment that will trigger a serious reaction
B. a position that is considered to be uncertain
C. a stage at which conditions start to improve
20 Man-made sources of methane
A. will cause more harmful effects than natural sources
B. are the fastest-rising sources of polluters today
C. are easier to control than natural sources
40

101
21 Which of the following are mentioned in paragraph 4?
I Controlling CO2 is the best way to reduce global warming.
II The possibility of controlling methane from natural sources is slim.
III Coastal floods worsen methane emission in the paddy fields and wetlands.
A. I and II
B. I and III
C. II and III
1
2
3
4
It has not been easy to find a bright spot in the global economy for a couple of
years now. But in the last few months, economists, consultants, and other
business types have begun to track the rise of a new emerging market, one that
may end up being the largest and most powerful of all: women.
According to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group, women are now
poised to drive the post-recession world economy, thanks to an estimated $5
trillion in new female-earned income that will be coming on line over the next five
years. Worldwide, total income for men ($23.4 trillion) is still more than double
that for women ($10.5 trillion), but the gap is poised to shrink significantly because
the vast majority of new income growth over the next few years will go to women,
due to a narrowing wage gap and rising female employment. That means women
will be the ones driving the shopping – and, economists hope, the recovery. That
growth represents the biggest emerging market in the history of the planet – more
than twice the size of the two hottest developing markets, India and China,
combined.
It is seismic stuff, the impact of the shift will be broad and deep. A report by
Goldman Sachs entitled “The Power of the Purse” proclaims women the
economic engine of the future, nothing that future spending by women, which
tends to focus more on health, education, and children’s well-being, “should
support the development of human capital” to a greater extent than spending by
men, thus “fuelling economic growth in the years ahead.” At the same time, the
report notes, economic growth continues to bolster gender equality, a virtuous
circle that has already had massive impacts on the status of women around the
world.
While most of us know intuitively that women’s place in the world has risen in
the last several decades, a look at the hard data is startling, in a good way. Huge
improvements in female access to education around the world mean that the
literacy rates for young women, which used to trail those of men by 30 per cent
or more, are now almost universally within a single digit of men’s. Labour-force
participation, already high in rich countries, has jumped exponentially in large
swaths of the developing world over the last few years; 70 per cent of women in
countries like China and Vietnam now work. Health has improved dramatically,
5
10
15
20
25
30

102
5
6
7
and fertility rates have dropped. Around the world, nations are changing laws to
give women more equal standing in areas like property, inheritance, and divorce
rights. In many cases, technology and globalisation have played an important role
in changing attitudes. A 2007 study by the National Bureau of Economic
Research on rural India found that within six to seven months of getting cable TV,
men and women alike had become more open to the idea of women’s autonomy,
and more accepting of female participation in household decision making.
In fact, women already make the majority of the world’s purchasing
decisions. Boston Consulting Group estimates that women control some $12
trillion of the world’s $18.4 trillion in annual consumer spending, and that
percentage will likely rise as a new upwardly mobile class of young female
professionals overtake their male peers in wealth and status. In developed
countries, there is already an elite cadre of urban women who are more powerful
than their male counterparts.
Higher female earners in the developed world, coupled with growing female
employment participation in poorer countries, is the reason that women’s earned
income is growing at 8.1 per cent versus 5.8 per cent for men. The financial crisis
has widened this gap, by hitting male job hardest. Some 80 per cent of job losses
in the U.S during the downturn have fallen men, in part because male-dominated
areas like manufacturing and financial services have been gutted during the
recession.
The rise of women as a grand, cross-border emerging market could have
implications as profound as the rise of India and China. There is a wide body of
research to suggest that women’s spending patterns may be exactly what the
world needs at this moment.
(Adapted from Newsweek, September 21, 2009)
22 The purchasing power of women is higher because
A. more women now work than men
B. women now earn almost as much as men
C. women now own more property than men
23 Why does the writer compare women to India and China?
A. To highlight potential impact
B. To emphasise the large numbers
C. To reflect the recent emergence of power
24 The word seismic ( line 16 ) can be best replaced by
A. nerve wrecking
B. earth shattering
C. groundbreaking
35
40
45
50
55

103
25 The spending power of women should support the development of human
capital (lines 19 and 20). This means that
A. women’s pattern of expenditure generates development of manpower
B. employment will be increased because of women’s demand for goods
C. there will be greater employment opportunities for women
26 The writer mentions 2007 study ( line 36 ) to highlight the fact that
A. technology has resulted in a more liberal attitude towards women
B. cable TV has influenced the attitudes of both men and women
C. globalisation has opened up more opportunities for women
27 In paragraph 4, the writer develops his idea mainly through
A. comparison and contrast
B. listing and elaboration
C. cause and effect
28 Which of the following statements is true of paragraph 6?
A. Women’s income is growing at a faster rate than men’s.
B. In developed countries, women earn more than men.
C. 80 per cent of men lost their jobs during recession.
29 The writer’s attitude towards the rise of women is
A. neutral
B. positive
C. ambiguous

104
1
2
3
4
5
And here I thought my Botoxed friends were happy, mellow, and sweet tempered
because a couple of injections of a neurotoxin had eliminated their frown lines,
knocked years off their apparent age, and made them no longer look “tired and
unapproachable,” as the company’s website cheerfully puts it. But no! According
to an amusing little study, by paralysing the frown muscles that ordinarily are
engaged when we feel angry, Botox short-circuits the emotion itself.
It is a version of the classic finding in psychology that facial expressions can
produce the very emotion they usually reflect. Called the facial feedback
hypothesis, it implies that forcing your lips and cheeks into a smile can make you
feel happy and scowling can make you feel annoyed, at least a little. Building on
that research, graduate student David Havas, of the University of Wisconsin-
Madison decided to study people who had received Botox treatments that
paralysed one pair of their corrugator muscles, which can cause the forehead to
constrict into a frown. The idea is to see whether the treatment affected their
ability to feel certain emotions. We already know that Botox affect the ability to
convey emotions such as anger, and a 2006 study found that it might even
alleviate depression, presumably by the same mechanism: block the facial
expression of sadness, prevent the related emotion.
Havas found an even deeper effect. He had 40 volunteers, who were
planning to be Botoxed in two weeks, to read statements with particular emotions:
angry (“the pushy telemarketer won’t let you run to your dinner”), sad (“you open
your e-mail inbox on your birthday to find no new e-mails”), or happy (“the water
park is refreshing on a hot summer day”). After reading each sentence, the
volunteers pushed a button to indicate they had understood it. Then, two weeks
after their Botox injections, they repeated the exercise, reading and
understanding another list of emotion-producing sentences.
The volunteers pressed the “I’ve read and understood this” button just as
quickly when the sentence conveyed something happy. But when it conveyed
something infuriating or unhappy, people took longer to read and understand it.
The emotions just did not compute as easily as before their sadness and anger
muscles were paralysed.
This is the first study suggesting that Botox affects the ability to understand
and emotional content of language. “Normally, the brain would be sending signals
to the periphery to frown, and the extent of the frown would be sent back to the
brain,” UW-Madison Professor Emeritus of psychology, Arthur Glenberg (and
Havas’ adviser) said in a statement. “But here, that loop is disrupted, and the
intensity of the emotion and of our ability to understand it when embodied in
language is disrupted.” Even though the temporal delay is less than a second,
says Glenberg, “in conversation, people respond to fast, subtle cues about each
other’s understanding, intention, and empathy. If you are slightly slower reacting
as I tell you about something that made me really angry, that could signal to me
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40

105
6
7
that you did not pick up my message.”
The research is part of a burgeoning field called “embodied cognition” which
posits that all our cognitive processes are rooted in, and reflected in the body.
Research in embodied cognition has shown that people pitch forward when they
talk about events in the future, for instance, but lean back when they discuss the
past. When they hold a mug of hot coffee, they judge people as warmer and
friendlier than when they clutch an iced latte. When they ponder their moral
transgressions, they have an urge to wash. Other researchers have also reported
that figurative or literal connection between all things dirty can be amazingly
specific. When volunteers left an unethical message on someone’s voice mail
(telling a lie, making a threat), they have an urge to wash out their mouth, but
when they sent the same message by e-mail (using their hands to type), they
wanted to wash their hands.
The body, it is clear, is no more bystander in our thoughts and emotions. At
least before Botox.
(Adapted from Newsweek, February 8, 2010)
30 But no! ( line 4 ) demonstrates the author’s feeling of
A. relief
B. regret
C. surprise
D. disappointment
31 Which of the following illustrates short-circuits the emotion (line 6)?
A. Knocked years off their apparent age (line 3)
B. Paralysing the frown muscles (line 5)
C. Cause the forehead to constrict into a frown (lines 13 and 14)
D. Block the facial expression of sadness (lines 17 and 18)
32 Hava’s study found that
A. Botox mars the users’ ability to feel sad
B. Botox does not affect the users’ emotions
C. Botox enhances the users’ feelings of happiness
D. Botox users respond faster to sadness than happiness
33 What is one consequence when that loop is disrupted….(line 36)
A. An inability to react to cues
B. A delayed response to anger
C. An inability to understand messages
D. A difficulty in conveying intense emotion
45
50
55

106
34 What is the significance of Havas’ study?
A. It warns Botox users against its use.
B. The findings support Arthur Glenberg’s study.
C. It contributes to the field of embodied cognition.
D. It leads to more investigations on the purpose of Botox.
35 Which of the following is an example of embodied cognition (line 43)?
A. Sitting upright when telling a lie
B. Washing one’s face after a quarrel
C. Washing one’s hands after shoplifting
D. Leaning comfortably in a chair when telling a lie
36 According to the passage, Botox does not
A. relieve the user’s depression
B. make the user unable to frown
C. affect the user’s expression of feelings
D. cause the user to become insensitive to others
37 The writer concludes that
A. Botox is harmful to the body
B. Botox disrupts our thoughts and emotions
C. there is interrelatedness of body, mind and feeling
D. there is connection between our emotions and our intellect

Muet module reading

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Muet module reading

Similar to Muet module reading (13)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Muet module reading