B B B B B B B B B B B B

ITU PREP. PROGRAMME PROFICIENCY EXAM JUNE 9, 2004

SECTION I. USE of ENGLISH / Questions 1-35 (35 x 1 = 35 points)
Choose the alternative that best fits in each blank to make the texts meaningful..

Text 1.
5 Why Are Children Curious?

Young children are always curious and attempting to discover and learn. They are curious
1_____ around them. Any child between the ages of four months and four years is said to be
more curious than an adult scientist. Adults sometimes 2_____ a child’s curiosity as a lack of
10 ability to concentrate. The truth is that children begin to learn at birth, and 3_____ they begin
school at the age of five or six, they have already absorbed an amazing 4_____ of
information. This is perhaps more than 5_____ in the rest of their lives. The role of adults in
the learning process of children should not be underestimated. Adults should appreciate a
child’s curiosity 6_____ them to learn. Only then can they contribute to the knowledge
15 children absorb.

1. a) about everything b) in everything c) for nothing d) on anything

2. a) regard b) remark c) associate d) approve

20
3. a) as soon as b) by the time c) then d) soon

4. a) capacity b) total c) amount d) number

25 5. a) learning c) they will learn

b) they learned d) having learned

6. a) to encourage simultaneously c) during simultaneous encouragement

b) for encouraging simultaneously d) while simultaneously encouraging
30
Text 2.

The Magic of Trees

35 In today’s modern computerized world, we humans have such a fast moving and short-lived
life 7_____ the life of trees seems too long for 8_____. We may be excited about the prospect
of a new millenium but there are trees still 9_____ firmly, which have seen millenia come and
go. 3000 years is nothing to a yew. The world’s oldest tree, known as Eternal God, is a 12,000
year-old redwood that lives in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in California. There is
40 a magic in trees that touches us all. The death of a tree inspires a strange empathy and may
even make some people 10_____ at its loss.

7. a) than b) that c) where d) which

45 8. a) to imagine b) our imagining c) us to imagine d) us imagining

9. a) and stand b) having stood c) to be standing d) standing

10. a) crying b) to cry c) cried d) cry

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ITU PREP. PROGRAMME PROFICIENCY EXAM JUNE 9, 2004

Text 3
A Huge Treat for Cinema Audiences

5 Cinema audiences in every country enjoy eating popcorn during a film. Soon they will
be enjoying a fatter and fluffier kind of popcorn thanks to a group of physicists in
Pennsylvania. The mathematical recipe they have cooked up for the new giant popcorn could
also save manufacturers and 11_____ money. D. Hong at Lehigh University in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, devised the recipe after 12_____ a speech by Young Hwa Kim, head of a
10 company that 13_____ physics to industrial problems. Kim, in his speech, mentioned one
challenge raised by a food company: how can the size of popcorn be increased?
To find out the answer to this question, Hong and his graduate student Joseph Both
adapted some standard equations of thermodynamics to 14_____ how popcorn pops. When
corn is heated in a pan or cooker, water inside the corn’s hard shell 15_____ steam.
15 Eventually the steam pressure becomes high enough to break the shell open. The soft, fluffy
inside then bursts out to equalize the pressure.
Hong’s mathematics showed that there is a simple way to make a bigger snack. “To
give popcorn a bigger volume, simply lower the pressure in the cooker,” said Hong. “For
example, if you want to make it 10 times larger, you need to 16_____ the pressure about 20
20 times,” he says.
Such pressure drops would be easy for industry to 17_____. Hong has submitted his
work to the journal Physical Review E. and plans to experiment within a vacuum chamber
18_____ he can see how big he can make corn in practice.
“If industry is interested, I’d be willing to work with them,” he says. “Big popcorn
25 would be fluffier and easier 19_____,” he speculates, adding that it would bring more profit to
any company that would be interested. “If the popcorn were 10 times larger, they 20_____ far
less corn, just a tenth of the amount they do now, for the same price.”

11. a) competitors b) consumers c) survivors d) advisors

30
12. a) hearing b) when he heard c) to hear d) that he heard

13. a) applies b) conveys c) converts d) refers

35 14. a) justify b) prescribe c) describe d) unify

15. a) brings up b) brings in c) turns on d) turns into

16. a) expand b) increase c) decline d) reduce

40
17. a) achieve b) install c) succeed d) conclude

18. a) in case b) so that c) provided that d) unless

45 19. a) for eating c) ate

b) eaten d) to eat

20. a) should have been using c) would be using

b) could have used d) would have used
50

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ITU PREP. PROGRAMME PROFICIENCY EXAM JUNE 9, 2004
Text 4
Effects of Drugs on Drivers

Drugs taken for therapeutic purposes can affect a person’s driving more than alcohol.
5 Ian Hindmarch of the University of Surrey studied the effect of the antidepressants 21 ______
since the 1950s. In one of his experiments, he divided the volunteers into two groups and he
asked 22_____ their reactions on driving simulators. They were supposed to hit the car brakes
whenever a break light flashed. If the volunteers were taking antidepressants, their reaction
times were twice that of drivers who 23_____ the legal limit of alcohol just before the
10 experiment. Currently, there is a joint project on the specifications of a drug-detection
24_____ for traffic police to use at the roadside. In addition, the Association of Chief Police
Officers is trying other techniques for drug 25 _____ and ways to test drivers for any
impairment in their reactions.
Can’t relief of depressive symptoms improve a patient’s 26_____? In fact, little
15 27____ known about the effects of depression itself on driving abilities. Hindmarch is
planning to do research on this issue, too.

20 21. a) has been widely prescribed c) widely prescribed

b) has prescribed widely d) was widely prescribed

22. a) them for testing c) to test them

b) testing for them d) them to test
25
23. a) used to drink b) drink c) were drinking d) had drunk

24. a) device b) machinery c) appliance d) material

30 25. a) recognition b) addiction c) introduction d) prediction

26. a) objectives b) performance c) production d) operations

27. a) aren’t b) isn’t c) is d) are

35

40

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ITU PREP. PROGRAMME PROFICIENCY EXAM JUNE 9, 2004
Text 5.
Formation of Soil

The term weathering refers to all the ways in which rock can be broken down. It
5 28_____ because minerals formed in a particular way (at high temperatures, in the case of
igneous rocks) are often unstable when exposed to various conditions. Weathering 29_____
the interaction of the litosphere with the atmosphere and the hydrosphere. It occurs at
different rates and in different ways, depending on the climatic and environmental 30_____.
However, all kinds of weathering ultimately 31_____ broken minerals and rock fragments as
10 well as other products of the decomposition of stone.
Soil is the most obvious and the most important result of the weathering 32_____ .
Soil is the weathered part of the earth’s crust that is 33_____ of sustaining plant life. The
character of soil depends on the nature of rock from 34_____. It also depends on the climate
and on the relative ‘age’ of the soil. Immature soils are little more than broken rock
15 fragments. Over time, immature soil develops into mature soil, resulting from decayed plant
matter. Mature soil is darker, richer in microscopic life, and more supportive of plant growth
35_____ immature soil.

20
28. a) comes across b) takes after c) comes up d) takes place

29. a) comprises b) involves c) interferes d) contains

25 30. a) conditions b) coincidences c) situations d) opportunities

31. a) manufacture b) produce c) maintain d) persist

32. a) principals b) process c) procedure d) criteria

30
33. a) responsible b) composed c) capable d) accused

34. a) that it forms c) which it is formed

b) it forms d) that it is formed
35
35 a) such as b) like c) than d) of

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ITU PREP. PROGRAMME PROFICIENCY EXAM JUNE 9, 2004
SECTION II. READING COMPREHENSION / Questions 36-65 (30 x 1.5 = 45 points)
Text 1. Read the text and choose the alternative that best answers each question.

5 Books as Therapeutic Tools

5
 Studies on the psychological state of children whose parents are divorced have shown
that books can serve as therapeutic tools – or at least as effective additions to professional
therapy – helping children cope with their parents’ divorce. According to educator-counsellor
Joanne Bernstein, stories that confront problems with sincerity, honesty and credibility may
5 provide insights, prompt self-examination, and lead to positive changes in attitude and
behaviour. One way stories establish this is through identification. Reading about the grief
and anxiety of others, she explains, can arouse sudden awareness as “problems that had not
been consciously or completely recognized are allowed to surface. Introduced to characters
who share their difficulties, children may no longer feel alienated and thus develop a sense of
10 belonging. They feel freer to discuss and resolve their own problems.”
Stories and books lacking credibility, which do not sound real due to their supernatural
characters and fantasy worlds, do not produce such therapeutic results, however. They may,
on the contrary, lead these children to live in an imaginary world where they will try to seek
shelter and security, hiding away from their problems. On reading these stories and books,
15 children will have even more problems confronting the ‘real’ world and be not just
disillusioned but also more distressed.
 36. The word ‘prompt’ in line 5 is closest in meaning to _______.
a) stop b) cancel c) encourage d) discourage
5
37. The word ‘alienated’ in line 9 is closest in meaning to ______.
a) protected c) accepted
b) excluded d) connected

10 38. ‘They’ in line 12 refers to _____.

a) Stories lacking credibility c) Supernatural characters
b) Therapeutic results d) Fantasy worlds

39. Which of the following is not discussed in the article?

15 a) Children who read books and stories may examine and judge their own behaviour.
b) Books can help children solve their problems by causing them to examine
themselves.
c) It is difficult for children to improve their relationships with their divorced parents.
d) Children may be influenced by books or stories which have fantasy characters.
20
40. J. Bernstein believes that stories can help children find themselves if they _____.
a) are written by psychologists or therapists
b) allow the characters to have shelter and freedom
c) deal with life’s problems frankly and honestly
25 d) arouse sudden problems in the lives of children

30
41. From the text, we can understand that children of divorced parents need to ______.
a) leave home and live independently
b) recognize their problems
c) stop discussing their problems
35 d) stop seeing their parents

42. Which of the following is not a reason why books and stories can act as effective
therapeutic means?
a) They lead children to complete freedom and independence.
40 b) They can help bring children’s problems to the surface.
c) They lead the way to the resolution of problems.
d) They help children cope with their grief and problems.

43. When children read about the problems and sadness of others in books, they start to
45 _____.
a) discuss their problems with them
b) withdraw themselves from real life
c) start reading fantasy books
d) identify themselves with these characters
50
 44. Which of the following does the article mainly discuss?
a) Books can teach therapists how to better cope with children.
b) Divorced parents should buy more books for their children.
c) Children can learn to accept the realities of life through reading.
5 d) Children should learn to create their own fantasies.

10

15

20

25

Text 2. Read the text and choose the alternative that best answers each question.
30

Driven to Distraction
 The E.U.’s tough new rules on recycling could mean a rocky road ahead for Europe’s
carmakers.
If it hadn’t been for Henry Ford’s drive to create a mass market for cars, America
wouldn’t have a middle class today. Undoubtedly, the car was the most important engine of
5 economic growth in the 20th century. However, Ford’s American Dream is fast becoming
Europe’s environmental nightmare because cars that are cast aside as useless cannot be
disposed of entirely and thus contaminate the environment. Unfortunately, redundant cars do
not simply vanish.
While a car’s metal components, which account for about 75% of its weight, can be
10 reused, the remainder – a mix of plastic, rubber, fluids and paint that often contains toxic
substances like mercury, cadmium and lead – is shredded into “fluff” and buried under
garbage dumps. The environmental group Friends of the Earth says that this “fluff” accounts
for around a tenth of the hazardous waste in Europe. And with 9 million cars discarded every
year, the amount of uncontaminated land left is decreasing fast. According to
15 environmentalists, although carmakers now have a variety of new, more easily recyclable
materials to choose from, the pressures to work quickly and keep costs low often exceed their
ecological concerns. What is needed is some incentive to motivate car designers to think
about the environmental aspect of their work.
Recently, the European Parliament provided just such an incentive when it approved a
20 directive that transfers responsibility for the environmental effect of a vehicle over its entire
life cycle – from design to disposal – directly onto the manufacturers’ shoulders. Some
requirements, such as a ban on the use of toxic heavy metals, and officially required recycling
rates of 80% and 85% for cars that will go on the market after 2006 and 2015, are far reaching
but feasible because with some effort, new cars can be adapted to the new regulations. But the
25 new law will also apply retroactively and force carmakers to pay the full price for the
disposal of every auto they ever produced. “The prospect of recycling cars that weren’t built
to be recycled is unbearable from a financial point of view,” says Camille Blum, secretary-
general of the Association of European Car Manufacturers (ACEA). ACEA believes that the
new measures announced by the European parliament will cost around $23 billion, based on
30 a recycling cost of around $155 a car and an estimated 150 million cars on the EU’s roads.
 45. The word ‘discarded’ in line 13 is closest in meaning to _____.
a) thrown away c) got through
5 b) used up d) got away with

46. The word ‘their’ in line 16 refers to _____.

a) recyclable materials c) pressures
b) environmentalists d) carmakers
10

47. The word ‘incentive’ in line 17 is closest in meaning to _____.

a) response c) encouragement
b) conflict d) exposure
15

48. The word ‘feasible’ in line 24 is closest in meaning to _____.

20 a) unbelievable c) available
b) improbable d) possible

49. The word ‘retroactively’ in line 25 is closest in meaning to _____.

a) currently b) presently c) previously d) recently
25
50. The word ‘measures’ in line 29 is closest in meaning to _____.
a) dimensions b) degrees c) concerns d) regulations

51. The article points out that ______.

30 a) carmakers in Europe have always taken care to use only recyclable materials
b) 75 % of a car’s weight turns into “fluff” when it is disposed of
c) 25 % of a car’s weight consists of materials that cannot be recycled
d) most European carmakers already have the incentive to consider ecology

35 52. Which of the following statements is not correct according to the article?
a) Toxic waste from disposed cars is a cause of land pollution in Europe.
b) The car industry helped in the development of the middle class in America.
c) Ecological concerns will increase car manufacturing costs.
d) European carmakers have been held responsible for the disposal of cars.
40
53. Which is correct according to the text?
a) Carmakers will only be partly responsible for the recycling and disposal of cars.
b) The recycling of new cars will present more difficulties for car makers in the future.
c) ACEA says that recycling about 150 million European cars will cost over $20 billion.
45 d) Car manufacturers were always obliged to use non-toxic materials for car parts.

54. The purpose of the article is to discuss _____.

a) why car manufacturers insist on using toxic materials for making cars
b) the different materials used in the production of car components
50 c) the new regulations brought to car manufacturing for the sake of ecology
 d) how the car industry helped economic growth in America and Europe

10

15

Text 3. Read the text and choose the alternative that best answers each question.

20 Catching Colds
 One of the critical factors that play a part in susceptibility to colds is age according to
a study done by the University of Michigan School of Public Health. The particulars
revealed by the study seem to hold true for the general population. Infants are the most cold-
5 ridden group, averaging more than six colds in their first year. Boys have more colds than
girls up to age three. After the age of three, girls are more susceptible than boys, and teenage
girls average three colds a year as opposed to boys’ two.
The general incidence of colds continues to decline into maturity. Elderly people who
are in good health have as few as one or two colds annually. One exception is found among
10 people in their twenties, especially women, who show a rise in cold infections due to the fact
that people in this age group are most likely to have young children. Adults who delay having
children until their thirties and forties experience the same sudden increase in cold infections.
The study also found that economics plays an important role. As income increases, the
frequency at which colds are reported in a family decreases. Families with the lowest incomes
15 suffer about a third more colds than families with the highest incomes. Lower income
generally forces people to live in more crowded residences than those typically occupied by
wealthier people, and crowding increases the opportunities for the cold virus to travel from
person to person. Low income may also adversely influence diet. The degree to which poor
nutrition affects susceptibility to colds is not yet clearly established, but an inadequate diet
20 accounts for lowering resistance in general.

55. The word ‘particulars’ in line 2 is closest in meaning to ________.

a) variables c) contradictions
25 b) specific details d) conflicts

56. The word ‘susceptible’ in line 5 is closest in meaning to ________.

a) resistant to c) likely to recover from
b) likely to be affected by d) well protected against
30
57. The word ‘those’ in line 15 refers to ________.
a) forces b) incomes c) people d) houses

58. The word ‘adversely’ in line 17 is has a similar meaning to ________.

35 a) admirably c) unexpectedly
b) adequately d) unfavourably

59. Which of the following groups of people is most likely to catch colds according to the
text?
40 a) teenage boys c) elderly women
b) one year old boys d) 2 year old girls

45
60. It is inferred in the text that _________.
a) children can infect their parents with colds
b) men catch colds more frequently than women
c) people in cold climates have a high number of colds annually
50 d) 30-40 year old adults show a high frequency of colds
 61. Which of the following is true according to the article?
a) According to the study, generally, the older the people are, the fewer colds they
have.
5 b) The study has determined the role of nutrition in resistance to colds.
c) The study did not involve people of higher incomes who were well off.
d) No connection has yet been found between housing conditions and colds.

62. The main purpose of the article is to ________.

10 a) discuss the frequency rate of colds in different age groups
b) discuss the different factors affecting cold frequency
c) show the relationship between resistance to colds and people’s income
d) show that the incidence of colds decreases with age

15

20

25

30

35

40

45 Text 4.
Gapped Text (Questions 63- 65)

Three sentences have been deleted from the text below. Choose the alternative (A -D)
that would best fit in each box (63 –65) and mark the answer on the answer sheet. There is
50 one extra sentence which you do not need.
 Story Telling

“Once upon a time, in a certain land, in a certain village, not near, not far, ... there
lived a peasant.” This is the way storytellers began many of their tales. Long before stories
5 were written down, they were passed on through the generations by storytellers, people who
used the gift of words to transport an audience out of this world and into another inhabited by
kings and princesses, heroes and monsters, witches and wizards.
Today, both the tales and the skills of the old storytellers are being revived by a new
generation of performers in many parts of the world. 63__________ Beginning in clubs and
10 bars and village halls, these tellers of tales have planted the seeds of interest which have
grown into at least 70 storytelling festivals that are staged annually in dozens of languages.
During last month’s literature festival at Hay-on-Wye in Wales, for example, several
British storytellers used their talents to amuse and entertain. 64__________ Such tales may
seem anachronistic in this visual age ruled by the cinema, television and computers. But
15 Daniel Morden, a young Welsh storyteller, thinks the enjoyment of listening to stories is the
chance to make up our own images. “Every member of an audience makes subtly different
pictures in their head, based on their own experience, fears, preoccupations and obsessions,”
he says. “So everyone hears a subtly different story.”
Traditions of storytelling are still strong in many parts of the world today.
20 65_________ Ben Haggarty, one of Britain’s leading storytellers, believes that Europe lost
many of its stories after World War I, for instance, since people didn’t feel like telling stories
afterward. And once the stories disappear, they’re gone.
As a contribution to the revival of stories, in many countries formal courses are
offered to teach would-be storytellers how to peel back the layers and get to the heart of a
25 story. In Germany, for example, the European Fairy Tale Society runs training courses for
students to learn how language works, how to present a story, and how to use gestures and
adjust the voice.

A. Enthusiasts from the U.S. and Canada to Australia and New Zealand are now
30 demonstrating that the stories that we all carry in our heads as part of our common
heritage are ready to be retold.

B. The difficulty for storytellers today is that in the telling and retelling, the origins of the
stories have become obscured by changes made over the years.
35
C. However, political conflicts, industrialization and urbanization are the biggest
enemies of oral narrative.

D. The range of stories told on one day - from a Romanian folk tale about a prince fleeing
40 death to a late night collection of adult tales about water nymphs and a prince
searching for a wife - showed how varied the content can be.

45 SECTION III. WRITING ( 20 points)

Write an essay of 250 – 300 words on ONE of the topics given below. Your essay must have
an introduction / a clear thesis statement (with controlling idea/s), at least 2 body
paragraphs with relevant supporting ideas and a conclusion. Your ideas should be
50 organized properly.
 1. Why do most young people in Turkey live with their parents until they get married?
Discuss.

5 2. At present, the number of women in business life is much higher than 15-20 years ago.
Discuss the factors that have led to the increasing number of women in business life.

3. Discuss the effects of low income on a person’s life.

10 4. How does losing one’s job affect his/her life and his/her family? Discuss.

15
WRITE YOUR ESSAY ON THE SHEET PROVIDED.

20
DO NOT WRITE HERE

25
Essays written on the pages of this booklet will NOT be graded.