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READING PAS GAOßO IGINAL EXAMS- REAL I ELTS EXAMS

What Lucy Taught Us


A scientific findiiig iii east lfi ice has cltaitged our mtdersf aiidiitg ofhOW
ltmtioiis how developed
On a Sunday morning in Iaie No ’ember i974, a team of scicniisłs u'e‹c digging in an isolated
spat in the Afar region of Ethiopia. Survcș ing the arch. ¡›a1acoan1hropologi.st D onald
Johanson spotted a small piccc of bonc. Straight aw'n). he recognistd iJ as coming from ihc
elbo •' o£a human ancestor. find ihere scre yicnty more. As I looked up the slopes to my
Icß. f ss» bits oFthc skull, a chuztk ofjo»', ø couplc of cr‹ebrac,’ sa}’s Jol anson•

It >’as imz•&iatel}‘ ob 'ious lÎtat thc skeleton was a signiùcant find, because the scdir füN at
the site zero kno»æ ‹a be 3.S million ycars old. ’I realíxd this -as p«rt sFa skeleton that v'8s
older than three million years, sn3 s Johanson. It Was the most ancient cørl3‘ htimBD C*er
found. Later it became apparent that it is'as also the most complete - d0% $$ ke °J had

At thø group’s campsite that night. Johanson played ø ltcatles song caßed 'Lucy in the Sky
with Diamonds', and. a.s the feeling ›ns that the śkcluion was female due to its 5İvÆ, someone
suggested calling it I.ucy. The name stncL and Johanson says ’All of a sudden, she became ø
g‹nsan.’ Bul the mornirig aßcr lhc discox'cr}°, the discussion x'as dominated hÿ qUcstions.
How' nid was Lucy when she éied? Did she ha ’e children? And might she be our direct
ancestor? No •adays, wc‘rc starting to get ihe antlers ‹o some of thcsc questions.

Accordìng to Johanson, 1.ucy hnd an incredible combination of primitive and derived features.
o'hich had net been seen before. Her skull and jaws were inGre ape-like thai those of other
groups oł‘early humans. Her braincasc wns also vet small, no bigJer than that of a chimp.
She had a hefty jaw. a lots’ forehead and long dangl)- arms.

For Johanson, it was imwdiately apparent ihøt Lucy walked upń ght. That’s because the
skajx› and positioning other pelvis reflected a fully upright gaii. Luc¿*s knee and ankle x'crc
also prcscrvcd and seemed to r2flect bipzdzl *lking. Laicr studies offcct ofTer ez•en more
evidence. As an upright walker, Lucy slrcngthcncü thc idea that ••'aIking was one of the
selective pressures driving human cvol ulion f'onsards. Early humBnș did not nccü bigger
brains Lo take d+fining steps a x'«y from apes. Extra brainpoø’cr only’ came over a million
years later v•'ith Iżic arrival or the species Jfo/tf4 *recf‹u, meaning upright man. Though big
brains ø'ould cleazlș’ be important later. walking remains onc of the traits dtat makes us
uniquely’ human.

She may have walked like a human, bui Lucy' spent at least some other tin›e up in the tmcv,
as chimpanzees and orangutans still do loday. It nló ș’ t›e thai upright txa)king cx’olvc& in the
trees, as a way to v.’alk along bmochm that t'ould othrovisc be ‹oo flcxiblc. It’s not clear why'
Lucy left fhe safety of the tzccs. It is thought that sax'ßnnahs Metre gradually' openin up. so
trees were spaced I\B1tfA@no/JXskaA‹igg @ /§¿ }›g :rcsI reason for
heading to the ground, says Chris Stringer ofthc Natural flislo ' fvfuscum in kondon. In fitt¢
with this idea rcccnf cx’idencc suggests sha iJie diet uF cazl}' humans was changing at that

Studies of the rcmains of food irappcd on prcserved human ieelh indicaic that scs•eral species,
including Lucy's. n’eic cxpanding their dier amiaid 3.5 million years ago. lnslrad of mostly
cating fruit from lrces. they bègan to include grasses and possibly meai. This change in dief
ma) have allowed them to '••s• more idcly. and to travcl around more cfficiently in a
changing cni’ironnienl. Fossiliscd croci›dilc and iunle eggs nerc found ncar her skeleton,
snggesting that Lucy dicd «hilc foiaging for ihem in a ncarby lake.

How'’ did early humans process all these new foods? Latcr spcvics, like Home ereous. are
known to have used simple stone tools, but no tools hax'e ever tween found from this far back.
Ht›is‘c*vör. in 2010 archaeologisls uncosered animal bones o’ith wraichts iliai secs to have
been made by stone loués. This suggcsts that Lucy and her relativcs used stone tools io eat
ment. There ha›'c sincc been hcaled debates over whethcr or not the inæàs l’ère really made
by tools. Bar if thc•y were. it is not surprising. says fred Spoor of ihe Max Planck Institute for
E 'oli tionary Anihropology in Leipzip. Germany.

Ilalso seems that Lucy’s childhood was much briefer than ours and iliat sire had to fend for
herse lf horn a youn 's°- **'- *' C ' > at I.icy was a fum-grown adult because she had n3sdom
teeth and her bones had fused. But unlike modv•rn humans, she seems to have grown to frill
size very quickly, and time of deaih was when she we around 1.2 years old. In line oath that.
a recent study of a 3-year-old early' htiman suggeued ihat their brains matured much earlier
ours do.
DU E '* - * GROUP. ORIGINAL EXAMS- REAL IELTS EXAMS
Do the following statements agree with tñe information given in Reading Pa8Sage 1'7

In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheol, wfito

7/?t/E if the slalement agrees w’ith tho in/om›sf/o


FALSE bthe statement oonfradic/s Ihe information
NOT GiVE/¥ "4 there is no infonr›ation on this
1
Donald Johanson was uncelain about the nature of the elbow bone he found in Arar.

2 Several bones were found by Donald Johanson at the same site in Afar.

3 The experts realised the importance of the discovery at Afar.

4 it WB9 tIT8 U per part of the skeleton that had suffered the least damage.

s The skeleton‘s measurements helped Johanson’s team to decioe if it was s ale or


female.
'” ROUP. ORIGINAL EXAMS- REAL IELTS EXAMS
Comp/e/s lhe notes betas.
choose ouz woeo ouLvfia• ihe passage foreach answer.
Wril8 yauf 8rifiw8fs in b0x8S 6-13 at youf answer she8t.

Lucy
Physical features
• jaws and skull like those of an ape
• braincasa similar in size to that of a ct›imp
» long arms

Movemant
• the posiuoning and shapa of fler pelvis made it clear thai she walked like a human
• upright movement poswbty started an›ong the 6.................of trees
• probably moved to the 7 .... ... ..... in search of food

Diet and eating habits


• analysis of food in the B................of tke skeletons of early humans shows changes in
their diet
• it is lixeiy that meat and grasses were substituted for 9.....
• 10 .......,.,.. that were located close to Lucy suggest these were also part of her diet
• 11................lhat were found had marks on them. possibly made by tools usad for
eating

Compañsons udfhs tOdem-0ayhum zno


• modem<Iay humans have a longer 12 than Lucy did
• the 13 ............ of modem lay r›umans sppear to develop later than Lucy’» Liu
READING PA8SASD@GINAL EXAMS- REAL IELTS EXAMS
rou should speed «bout 20 m/nufes on Q•esz/ons ¥^xs, t*h/ch are based on Reading Passage 2
onpages 6 and 7.

Yhe gender gap in New Zealand’s high


school examination results
Results from New Zealand’s ne›v nationa/ examinations for secondary schools
am giving that country some cause fior concern
The issue is Ihe difference in pass rates believe tl›ere is slill resistance wi hin
the between the sexes: at each level of Ihe Education Ministry towards doing
examination and ‹1c ass all school types, anything aboui the p obIem.
the diHerence is «bout 10 /›crcent.1gc
points. Girls are doing beiter in every C Educaii•n Ministry learning policy
subject, nn‹/ ihose in girlsmnly sc hools m.anager Steve Benson says lhat Ihe
are taking ‹op honour. The results are ’National Certificate in Educational
not a surprise: high school girls have achievement‘, or NCEA, as New
been outperforming boys academically Zealand’s high school exams are called,
for more Ihan a decade. It is an is useful to employers and to universities
international phenomenon, and xvilhin because it provider a fine-grained
Australia was the subject of much picture of pupils‘ performance in every
demate and controversy. Wilhin new aspect of a subject, rather Ihan just a
Zealand back in the 980s, there was a pass or fail in an o cfgll area. ’In most
concerted campaign, called 'Girls Can parts oflhe curriculum, for ex.ample in
Do Anything’, which was aimed al maths, lhere isn’t really a gender gap.
lifting girls’ participation rates, But literacy is a different matter. Even
achievement levels and «spirations. Yhis boys who are good at writing tend not to
›vas so successful that the pcrdtilum hcs write so much. There‘s actuaII}’ a
now swung to the other extreme. Views quantity issue.’
differ on how worried people should be.
After all, for much o( history, girls were D The discrepancy in reading and writing
excluded from any form of eel icaiion, skills behveen males and females shows
and ihis new phenomenon could be up as early as preschool, and the
seen as a temporary over-correction difference is clear by the time lhesc
before the balance is righted. children enter high school. Not being
good at literacy was not such a problem
B However the Nov Zealand State in the old Jays when many students left
Minisuy of Education says it is laking lhe school fOr manual jobs after Yeaf 1, But
$
issue seriously. It is working with a notvaclays many n›ore slay on lo higher
reference group on boys’ cducaiion education, and almost all jobs require
which has been set up, and it has IiIetac\• skills. Roger Moses, tke
commissioned an Australian academic kead‹••sler of Wellington College. says
Io report on inlcrventions that have been that the winen content of NCEA papers
found to worL for boys, drawing is more demanding than the previous
particularly on Australia‘s experience. system o(seconrl‹1ry school
But some, such as (ormer p‹ison qualifications in Nov ZealariKl, even in
manager Celia Lashlie, ihe author of a subjects such as statis\ics and
book for parents of teenage boys, accounting.
Re•v Zealand 1
EXAMS s•y in
in in e‹nationaI reà tng Iëst», but“ something
beneath this average lies s wide economist Brian Easton reported ańe•
variance, xviih new Zealand Europea/t a•al›øing daia irom the íirst year of
girls most represented at the ‹op and ‹xCEA's implementation. He said the
.rev Zealand Pacific Isiand boys at the rœults were valid, even when socî
boctom. Y9‹ s<›rne Eurc›ș›ean girls drop economic szatus ø’æ taken into accounts
out, and some Pacii\c Island boys excel. Dr Paul Baker, keaò oi Waitaki Boys“
In other worõs, the range in performance High School ia Oamaru, agrees. 1-le
within each gender group n much thinks that although it is possible for all
greater than the genóer dmerencœ. schaol to do more io boost boys’
Ethnic diÎïerences, anó diiïerencœ tn periormance, ii is easier in a boys'
S ' iO-ec¢momiC Status, maț”bØ ffł0•U
signiÎiCant than the sample boy/girl
explanation. “Mptwcd by girls’.

F This makes the Educatic›n Ministry


nervous about pushing soluñons that
emphasise stereotyped gender
diîïerences, raiher than leaking ai unÓez-
achievement as a whole. job Bunougks,
principal of Linwooó High 'School ‹n
Chrİuchurch, agtee$. ror three years h‹s
school ran separate òÕys" CÎassœ IOwy
addres.s the disparity in
before abandoning ihem. The resear h1”ą
sh ed th he bo d-d
own cldss Can fA the Co-odDCAîtorïaÎ ”-
envöonment Bui;vhenhe|woÑedsi
whiohieacheniMyhad.andhowwel|
ìhoseteachen’oihecI sesóid,ii
becameceælhai‹hed#æence ,
imnead,iodovi :heq‹»üipof

s At DnsÏow College, Dr Stuart Martin


would do 6xvay with the NCEA Level 1
exam ií he could. ›-Ie says that in Year
l ì, aged i ă, boys aæ simply not mature
enough io cope. they terió to th nk thaE
just passing Is enou@, znd that it’s nœ
necessary to wk hard for a Merit or an
Excellence grade. ŒÎten rhey are busy
with osł<‹ a«ivitiœ Anó part-time j
Boys’ comperi‹ive instinct tends to come
« laier in ‹he‹r schooling yea‹s.
especially ií there is money a«ached or
other tangible rewards. By 17, boys are
catching up academically faith tb‹t girk,
and t;›y he end of Year IS, boys are
again winning the top pcizes.’
questions 14 - f&ROUP ORIGINAL EXAMS- REAL IELTS EXAMS

Coojp/efe the summ8 b8lOW

choos« »o uoee TuAu TWo WORDS from Ihe passope /or each answer.

Writa your answers in 0 x« 1 -1* <^ y > ^^^ ^ ** ® !

High school assessment in New Zealand


New Zealanders sre worried at the outcomes of their high school assessment syslem,
because the 14 ............ of girls are higher than those of boys by 1OeA. A gender gap has
been apparent for over a 15 ........,... . This situation is not unique to New Zealand. and has
been notiœd in 16...............also

Questions 17 - 20

Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs, A-H

Which parsgraph oontains the following information?

I/Vr//e //›e ooræcf /sfter. A-H, in boxer 17-20 on your answer sheet.

17 an advantage of New Zealand's secondary school tesls

18 a mention of current government ›nitialives to boost male achievement

19 when gender differance in literacy skills first becomes evident

20 findings that relate academic achievemBnt to race


Match each person with the conecl statement, A•H

Write he correct lefter, A•H, in d xes 21-26 ar› your answer s/ieef.

31 Celia Lashlie

22 Steve Benson

23 Roger Moses

24 Rob Burroughs

25 Stuart Martin

Zs Paul Baker

List of Statements

A Boys gain lower marks on NCEA if lhey attend an all-boys' school.


B Boys are disadvantaged by girls tending to take over at school.
c Good teaching is more important than whether classrooms are single-
sex or mixed.
D E Mathematical skills were not so important in the past.
The difference in achievement between school boys and girls is only
F G evident in some subjects
n Older boys are more motivated to stuay than younger boys.
The NCEA exams have higher literacy standards than past exams did. The He
10

READING PA66AG FINAL EXAMS- REAL IELTS EXAM


Ryu s/jojjfo st nQ about 20 jyt{/jgfag on Oye,gPonjg 2g-dg. which •7e b8se€f on Re'0Öing PaSsage 3
on pa ge g Jg pn¢f f1.

The strange world Of slght


S!eoing in belieuitig, if ie soid. Bu i, ashs üitliord Gregory, could it
be
file other may ron nd?
Two of the grent British men of the l7th century, the philompher John Locke and the
phyaicist lsnnc Newton. were both aware that objects ere not eoloured. und that against
all appenrnncea light is not coloured either. This is still nt›r genernlJr reeogniaed oven
now, 400 years later, betauae it eeeme so irn plauaible. Yet it tella us eomething s'ery
important - that perceptions are not identical with z‘hat we perceive, and may be very
different.

The moat accurnte hiotorical account ot perception ia that of the )Sth-cPntuJ


German acientist Herma nn von Helmholtr. Hosveser. it wea ridic uled at the time. Von
Helaiholti thought that perception.s are unconacious inferences we make baeed on a
combination of clues provided by the eyes and oilier senees, and hnon'ledge of the wnrld.
This idea of unconscious inferenee for perception preceded, by ae 'eral years, the
psychoanalyst Freud’s notion of the uneonsciou s. which v•’aù alco initially treated u'ith
derision because it undermincd the notion of hemann an pP •pîztine ntly rationel bcinga
who could be held responsible for their ac4iona .and uwardcd blame or prgiae accordé ngli•.

Crucially, perception ef the present doperida on rich, though of tx›urse not alv•ays
correct or appropriate. l‹nowled¢e from the past. iVc interpret sense data (n hut we hear.
touch. tnstn, eee a nd smell) frons the present eccordina to whet w’e already know. this
the question: if we » tbe present memop, oren't past ond present
confused? The pioneering nus»ien neiirologiot Alexander Curia described the cnac of
6'1r 8, » he had a remarkable memos'. However, lice » a• prone to just such confusions.
for example miatn kind aeeing his cloch for remembering it. end so failing to get up in the
morning. Thin iuggeats thnt perhaps on ictportant function of perception ia to underline
the prene» t. lndividual perceptions have a viiñ dnees that is rare for memories, x'hich
miphi be how eve are able to eeparnte them. Try• this: Pooh at something for a £cw
beoonda, and then shut your eyes and s'i sualise it in memory-. You will almoat eertainl3-
find that the memory ia pale by comparison with the perception. Perhaps this is whs
pa8t and QfiC8oflt RR Rot normally confused. Luria’8 6Jr S had exceptionally s0vid
memories, rind rich syueesihesia (experiencing perceptions from another 9enee as s• elf
es the one being stimulated. auch a8 musical ftotBa experienced as colours), o hich max'
be why he confused eeeing with hnving neon.

The complexity of processes involved in he • eve ace first impreaeed ituelf on we 45


years ago. H'ith nsy colleague Jean $$'ellate, 1 studied the rare cnae of Sydney Bradford,
n mnn who had been born blind but. through a corneal groft at the age of 52. suddenly
found hiiYieelf itble to st. Almost immedietelJ- after the opcrRtion he wns eble Ip ’see’
hut he cou)d only see thooe thinga that he R1rend$• knew about, hai•ing cxperienced them
through touch. It wan his touch memories that eniibled him to perceive them w'ith his
eye». Y•'hen Bradford waa firat tahon tn the zm, he proved utterly' unable to eee an
elephant as he had no knowledge to mnke scnee of his perception».
GROUP: ORIGINAL EXAMS- REAL IELTS EXAMS
The more recent case in California of Mike brat , who was aleo born blind. ie similar.
Since hie operation, his right has gradually improved aa he learns to «ee, for example, by
under6tanding how shadows represent depth and tell un about the ahape of thinga. home
of the enneequences of Ma3’s new-found viaion were less heppy. He had been a champion
blind skier, but follow ing the operation, he would have to ahut hia eyes while akiing to
block out o’hat he now found was 8 terriJfing aight.

But acceptance of thia intimate connection between memos and perception. even
though it was first noticed in the 1?th century, ha» been aloo in brain science. De8pite
the fact that state-of-the-art brain imaging sliowa that perception animated parta of the
brain aaaocinted with both present information and memory, moat research on memory
and perception is still undertaken us if these were separate pre:eaaea. Seeing uaed to be
thought of as taking plnce only in the eyea, and in quite specialized brain regions; but
now' it 8eema that half the brain ia ‹x:cupicd »•ith eeeing, requiring a lot of energy.
Perhaps this i6 v•’hy o e ahut our eyca for a reat.

It ia not juat extreme casea like Mike hlay, but also ranch more common errora of
aeeing — illu9lorta - that can reveal the crucial role of niemory in governing what we
(think we) eee. Perception depends on specific knoo-ledge and probabilitiea. Our brafna
ealculate the likelihood of what ia out there, and o hen too far-fetched, perteption8 are
rejected.

A dramatic and diacomforting example is liking at the two aidea of a face-maah.


From the front it ia a convox shnpe with the noae sticking out. Then if the mask ie
rotated, the back of the mask will be aeen as convex. though we know that it mu8t be
concave. It is almost. if not quite, impossible to sketch the back of a hollow maak to look
an it ie - hollow. Science ofien learns from what does not happen: pRople not aeeing a
hollow face aa hollow is the most rex•ealing experiment on perception. The unsettling
truth from brain Science ia that even people «’ith no viaual impairment ace what, at
aome level, they expect to ace, and often miTs things as they really are.
12

Qt/ssfi ons 2-
*&ROUP : ORIGINAL EXAMS- REAL IELTS EXAMS
7
Choose fha co Beef lefter, A. 8, C ar O.

W’‹?fe th8 correct lettar in boxes 2Z-30 on your answersf›ea/.

27 Why does the writer refer to Locke and Nawton in the first paragraph†
A to indicate that his article will cover several scisntifiC fields
B to stress how much physic9 has changed in 400 years
c to persuade the reader to taka him seriously
D to point out that his notions are not new

28 According to the writer, why was Fraud's theory of the unconscious mocked?

A It was too complex for his contemporaries to understand.


B It involved criticism of the way people behaves in
society.
C People fell that it devaluad the accepted concept of humanity.
D People assumed that it was intended as a joke.

29 The writer describes Mr S failinp to get up in order to demDnstrate


A how realistic most people's memories aha.
B how hard it is to tell dreaming and waking apart.
C how unusual it is to mistake a perception for a memory.
D how valuable knowledge of the past can be.

30 What point is the writer making in the text as a whole7

A Perception involves muCh more than tho data collected by the eyes.
Learning to sae as an adult can be a tlme-consuming process.
c Science is failing to denote enough attention to sight.
D I-luman perception is remarkably reliable.
13

" U• ^'” GR OUP: ORIGINAL EXAMS- REAL IELTS EXAMS


S

Do tha following statements agree with Tbe a ews of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet. wfite
FfS ”d lh8 slgl8m8nl agrees vfilti two views of the wrfier
uo i7 tne s/a/emenf corifad/c/s tho views a/flue wfiter
’dit is i 0/e /o say wfial lha wfitar thinhs about fms

31 Sydney Bradford relied on recollections of objects f›e had been told about to help him
see aRer his operation.

32 People who only start to soe as adults can learn to see as other people do in time.

s3 People who nave gained their sight as adults find certain activities harder to do than
before.
34 It is evident now iriat sight involves tt›e eyes and one particular area of the brain.

35 The mask experiment is porticularly useful in training people who are regaining their
sight.

36 People with perfect vision can fa I to interpret sects correctly under certain
circumstances.

Queofiono 37 - 40

Comp/ete lhe summary using tho list of words. A-J. below.

W’ri/e the collect latter. AT, in boxes 37-40 on your ans 'er sheet.

The mask expef1ment


In ihis experiment, having lookad at the from of a simple face-mask, subjects look at the
reverse. However, the subjects are convinced that they are still looking at a mask which
i9 37 ........ .. in shape. They behave lhat the 38...............is poking out in the normal
manner because that is wt›at they Are used to seeing. Attempting la make a 59 ... ... ..,.....of
the mask in this orienlabon leads to the same problem. The subjects fail to see a concave
form because of lhe JO ............ they have that the features of a face stick out.

ADG J 6onvex round


back Bbrein cue«
preconception Esight Fnose
Hhollow Idrawing

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