HANOI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEST

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT READING 2 – Progress Test (40’)

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Full name:

Date of birth: Date of testing:

Class: Index No. (STT):

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The test has two reading passages.

READING PASSAGE 1: QUESTIONS 1 – 8

Breaking the habit

We all think we can break our bad habits — but they can stay with us for life

What is a bad habit? The most common definition is that it is something that we do regularly,
almost without thinking about it, and which has some sort of negative consequence. This
consequence could affect those around us, or it could affect us personally. Those who deny
having bad habits are probably lying. Bad habits are part of what makes us human.
Many early habits, like sucking our thumb, are broken when we are very young. We are either
told to stop doing it by our parents, or we consciously or subconsciously observe that others
do not have the same habit, and we gradually grow out of it. It is when we intentionally or
unintentionally pick up new habits in our later childhood or early adulthood that it becomes
a problem. Unless we can break that habit early on, it becomes a part of our life, and becomes
'programmed' into our brain.
A recent study of human memory suggests that no matter how hard we try to change our
habits, it is the old ways that tend to win, especially in situations where we are rushed, stressed
or overworked. Habits that we thought we had got rid of can suddenly come back. During the
study programme, the researchers showed a group of volunteers several pictures, and gave
them words to associate with them (for example, see a picture of tea, and associate it with
'breakfast'). They then showed the volunteers the same pictures again, and gave them new
words to associate with them (see a picture of tea, and say 'afternoon').
A few days later, the volunteers were given a test. The researchers showed them the pictures,
and told them to respond with one of the words they had been given for each one. It came as
no surprise that their answers were split between the first set of words and the second. Two
weeks later, they were given the same test again. This time, most of them only gave the first
set of words. They appeared to have completely forgotten the second set. The study confirms
that the responses we learn first are those that remain strongest over time. We may try to
change our ways, but after a while, the response that comes to mind first is usually the first
one we learned. The more that response is used, the more automatic it becomes and the harder
it becomes to respond in any other way.
The study therefore suggests that over time, our bad habits also become automatic, learned
behaviour. This is not good news for people who picked up bad habits early in life and now
want to change or break them. Even when we try to put new, good intentions into practice,
those previously learned habits remain stronger in more automatic, unconscious forms of
memory.
Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in the Reading passage?
Write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
1. Lies affect ourselves more significanlty than other people surroundings.
2. We can only break bad habits if people tell us to do so.
3. Bad habits may return when we are under pressure.
4. Researchers were surprised by the answers that the volunteers gave in the first test.
5. The volunteers found the test more difficult when they did it the second time.
6. People find it more difficult to remember things they learnt when they were young.
7. If we develop bad habits early in life, they are harder to get rid of.

READING PASSAGE 2: QUESTIONS 8 – 15

The rain makers

Science and technology work with nature to bring rain when and where it is needed

A. Wheat farmer Gang Liu is a worried man. The annual rains have not arrived, and there is
a danger that unless there is substantial rainfall soon, his annual wheat crop will fail. As
he looks anxiously at the clouds which promise rain but are failing to deliver it, there is a
sudden loud roar, and from fields for miles around, hundreds of small rockets are fired
 into the clouds. Within twenty minutes, the farms around the eastern Chinese city
of Luohe are experiencing their first rain for many weeks. Gang Liu's valuable wheat has
been saved, thanks to a technique known as 'cloud seeding', in which the chemical silver
iodide (Agl) is introduced into clouds. This causes the tiny drops of moisture in the clouds
to turn to ice. These tiny ice particles join until they become heavy enough to fall from
the sky, turning into rain as they melt.
B. But did cloud seeding really cause the rain in Luohe to fall, or was it just a coincidence?
Experts often question whether cloud seeding actually works. It is hard to tell how
effective cloud seeding actually is, they say, as it might have rained anyway, without
human intervention. But this has not stopped many governments and organisations from
trying. There are currently 150 weather-modifying projects taking place in more than 40
countries. Not all of them are aimed at creating rain. The Eastlund Scientific Enterprises
Corporation in the USA, for example, is experimenting with firing microwaves into
clouds to prevent the tornadoes which cause enormous damage to the country every year.
In Russia, experiments have been carried out to make sure the sun shines during important
national events.
C. However, it is rainmaking that dominates the research programmes. In many of these,
researchers are using trials in which some clouds are 'seeded' while others are not, and
both groups are monitored. Arlen Huggins of the Desert Research Institute is leading a
research project in Australia. Weather-monitoring technology is so good nowadays, he
says, that we can measure clouds much more effectively, even from the inside. As a result,
we now know much more about the effect humans can have on the weather. What
Huggins' team has discovered so far is promising. They believe that cloud seeding does
work, although there are still two years of the six-year project left to go.
D. In China, where the majority of cloud-seeding operations take place, weather-
modification authorities use army rockets to fire silver-iodide particles into the clouds.
39,000 staff working for the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) are equipped
with 7,113 army cannons which, in 2006, were used to fire a million silver-iodide rockets
into the atmosphere. This costs over $100 million a year, although the CMA claims the
results are worth the expense. Between 1999 and 2006, they say, cloud seeding produced
250 billion metric tonnes of rain and prevented thousands of farmers from losing their
crops.
E. "We want to understand what makes clouds rain," says Philip Brown of the UK
Meteorological office, explaining why so much time, effort and money are being invested.
"But there is a more powerful economic reason. A lot of countries around the world are
at risk from drought, and governments will try anything to make sure that doesn't happen,
even if the scientific evidence is weak. The potential economic value is greater than the
scientific value. Making it rain might allow you to keep agriculture going where, without
human intervention, it might fail."
F. Some people are concerned, however, that altering the weather can have negative
consequences. Leonard Barrie, director of the research department at the World
Meteorological Organisation in Geneva, explains why. "All areas of weather modification
are still very controversial. Some people think that diverting water for irrigation benefits
some people, but is a disadvantage to others. Someone in one area will get more water,
but as a result, someone somewhere else could get less." His fears may be justified.
Recently, the town of Zhoukou in China's Henan province accused neighbouring town
Pingdingshang of 'stealing' rain from clouds that were due to pass over its own farms,
prompting what may be the world's very first documented incident of 'rain rage'.

Questions 8-11
The reading passage has six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

List of headings

i. How modifying the weather has changed the

world
ii. Tests provide encouraging result
iii. A period of drought comes to an end
iv. An old solution to a new problem
v. Making peaceful use of a military weapon
vi. Winners and losers
vii. A waste of money
viii. Global attempts to change the weather
ix. What is prompting this research
Example
Paragraph A iii
 8. Paragraph B ………………
9. Paragraph C ………………
10. Paragraph D ………………
11. Paragraph F ………………

Questions 12-15
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each
answer.
12. At the moment, there are over ……………… where projects are being carried out to
modify the weather.
13. The Desert Research Institute project will finish in ………………
14. The CMA gets the equipment they need from the ………………
15. There is still an arguement about the impacts of ……………… because the cloud
seeding may affect the distribution of rainfall over different areas.

-This is the end of the test-