READING PASSAGE 1

Save the Turtles

A
Leatherback turtles follow the general sea turtle body plan of having a large, flattened, round body with
two pairs of very large flippers and a short tail. Like other sea turtles, the leatherback’s flattened forelimbs
are specially adapted for swimming in the open ocean. Claws are noticeably absent from both pair of
flippers. The leatherback’s flippers are the largest in proportion to its body among the extant sea turtles.
Leatherback front flippers can grow up to 2.7 meters in large specimens, the largest flippers (even in
comparison to its body) of any sea turtle. As the last surviving member of its family, the leatherback turtle
has several distinguishing characteristics that differentiate it from other sea turtles. Its most notable
feature is that it lacks the bony carapace of the other extant sea turtles.
B
During the past month, four turtles have washed up along Irish coasts from Wexford to Kerry. These
turtles are more typical of warmer waters when they stray off course. It is likely that they may have
originated from Florida, America. Two specimens have been taken to Coastal and Marine Resources
Centre, University College Cork, where a necropsy will be conducted to establish their age, sex and their
exact origin. During this same period, two Leatherback turtles were found in Scotland, and a rare Kemp’s
Ridley turtle was found in Wales, thus making it an exceptional month for stranded turtles in Ireland and
the UK.
C
Actually, there has been extensive research conducted regarding the sea turtles’ abilities to return to their
nesting regions and sometimes exact locations from hundreds of miles away. In the water, their path is
greatly affected by powerful currents. Despite their limited vision, and lack of landmarks in the open
water, turtles are able to retrace their migratory paths. Some explanations of this phenomenon have found
that sea turtles can detect the angle and intensity of the earth’s magnetic fields.
D
However, leatherback turtles are not normally found in Irish waters, because water temperatures here are
far too cold for their survival. Instead, adult Leatherback prefer the warmers waters of the Mediterranean,
the Caribbean and North America’s east coast. The four turtles that were found have probably originated
from the North America. However it will require genetic analysis to confirm this assumption. It is thought
that after leaving their nesting beach as hatchlings, these tiny turtles enter the North Atlantic Gyre that
takes them from America, across to Europe, down towards North Africa, before being transported back
again to America via a different current. This remarkable round trip may take many years during which
these tiny turtles grow by several centimeters a year. Leatherback may circulate around the North Atlantic
several times before they settle in the coastal waters of Florida or the Caribbean.
E
These four turtles probably on their way around the Atlantic when they strayed a bit too far north from the
Gulf Stream. Once they did, their fate was sealed, as the cooler waters of the North East Atlantic are too
cold for Leatherback, unlike some other turtles which have many anatomical and physiological
adaptations to enable them to swim in different seas. Once in cool waters, the body of a Leatherback
begins to shut down as they get ‘cold stunned’, then get hypothermia and die.
F
Leatherbacks are in imminent danger of extinction. A critical factor is the harvesting of eggs from nests.
Values as a food delicacy, Leatherback eggs are falsely touted to have aphrodisiacal properties in some
cultures. The Leatherback, unlike the Green Sea turtles, is not often killed for its meat; however, the
increase in human populations coupled with the growing back market trade has escalated their egg
depletion. Other critical factors causing the leatherbacks’ decline are pollution such as plastics –
leatherbacks eat this debris thinking it is jellyfish; fishing practices such as longline fishing and gill nets,
and development on habitat areas. Scientists have estimated that there only about 35,000 Leatherback
turtles in the world.
G
We are often unable to understand the critical impact a species has on the environment –that is, until that
species becomes extinct. Even if we do not know the role a creature plays in the health of the
environment, past lessons have taught us enough to know that every animal and plant is one important
link in the integral chain of nature. Some scientists now speculate that the Leatherback may play an
important role in the recovery of diminishing fish populations. Since the Leatherback consumes its weight
in jellyfish per day, it helps to keep jellyfish populations in check. Jellyfish consume large quantities of
fish larvae. The rapid decline in Leatherback populations over the last 50 years has been accompanied by
a significant increase in jellyfish and a marked decrease in fish in our oceans. Saving sea turtles is an
International endeavor.
Questions 1-6
Choose the most suitable heading for paragraphs B-G from the list of heading below.
List of Headings
i Sea turtles are found in unusual locations
ii Unique features of the Leatherbacks
iii The Leatherback’s contribution
iv Methods used for routes tracking
v Predict the migration routes
vi Remains multiplicity within the species
vii The progress of hatching
viii The fate of the lost turtles
ix How trips suppose to look like?
x Factors leading to population decline
1 Paragraph B
2 Paragraph C
3 Paragraph D
4 Paragraph E
5 Paragraph F
6 Paragraph G

Questions 7-13
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
7 How many Leatherback turtles are there in the world?
8 What is the most noticeable difference between other sea turtles and leatherbacks?
9 What caused leatherback turtles to die in Irish waters?
10 Where did the four turtles probably come from?
11 By which means can sea turtles retrace their migratory paths?
12 For what purpose are Green Sea turtles killed by people?
13 What kind of species will benefit from a decline in Leatherback population?

PASSAGE 2
Thoughtful computing system
A. “YOUR BATTERY IS NOW FULLY CHARGED,” ANNOUNCED THE LAPTOP COMPUTER to
its owner, Donald A. Norman, with enthusiasm—perhaps even a hint of pride? in its synthetic voice. To
be sure, distractions and multitasking are hardly new to the human condition. “A complicated life,
continually interrupted by competing requests for attention, is as old as procreation,” laughs Ted Selker of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. But increasingly, it is not just our kids pulling us
three ways at once; it is also a relentless barrage of e-mail, alerts, alarms, calls, instant messages and
automated notifications, none of them coordinated and all of them oblivious to whether we are busy—or
even present. “It’s ridiculous that my own computer can’t figure out whether I’m in front of it, but a
public toilet can,” exclaims Roel Vertegaal of Queen’s University in Ontario.
B. Humanity has connected itself through roughly three billion networked telephones, computers, traffic
lights— even refrigerators and picture frames— because these things make life more convenient and keep
US available to those we care about. So although we could simply turn off the phones, close the e-mail
program, and shut the office door when it is time for a meeting or a stretch of concentrated work, we
usually don’t. We just endure the consequences.
C. Numerous studies have shown that when people are unexpectedly interrupted, they not only work less
efficiently but also make more mistakes. “It seems to add cumulatively to a feeling of frustration,” Picard
reports, and that stress response makes it hard to regain focus. It isn’t merely a matter of productivity and
the pace of life. For pilots, drivers, soldiers and doctors, errors of inattention can be downright dangerous.
“If we could just give our computers and phones some understanding of the limits of human attention and
memory, it would make them seem a lot more thoughtful and courteous,” says Eric Horvitz of Microsoft
Research. Horvitz, Vertegaal, Selker and Picard are among a small but growing number of researches
trying to teach computers, phones, care and other gadgets to behave less like egocentric oafs and more
likeconsiderate colleagues.
D. “Attentive” computing systems have begun appearing in newer Volvos and IBM has introduced
Websphere communications software with a basic busyness sense. Microsoft has beat running extensive
in-house tests of a much more sophisticated system since 2003. Within a few years, companies may be
able to offer every office worker a software version of the personal receptionist that only comer-suite
executives enjoy today. But if such an offer should land in your inbox, be sure to read the print before you
sign. An attentive system, by definition, is one that Ỉ B always watching. That considerate computer may
come to know more about your work habits than you do.
E. Most people aren’t as busy as they think they are, which is why we can usually tolerate interruptions
from our inconsiderate electronic paraphernalia. James Fogarty and Scott E. Hudson of Carnegie Mellon
University recently teamed up with Jennifer Lai of IBM Research to study 10 managers, researchers and
interns at work. They videotaped the subjects and periodically had them rate then “interruptibility.” The
amount of time the workers spent in leave-me-alone mode varied from person to person and day to day,
ranging from 10 to 51 percent. On average, the subjects wanted to work without interruption about one
third of the time. In studies of Microsoft employees, Horvitz has similarly found that they typically spend
more than 65 percent of theft day in a state of low attention.
F. Today’s phones and computers, winch naively assume that die user is never too busy to take a call, read
an email, or click “OK” on an alert box, thus are probably correct about two thirds of time. To be useful,
then, considerate systems will have to be more than 65 percent accurate in sensing when their users are
near theft cognitive limits.
G. Bestcom/Enhanced Telephony, a Microsoft prototype based on Horvitz’s weak, digs a little deeper into
each user’s computer to find clues about what they are up to. Microsoft launched an internal beta test of
the system in mid-2003. By last October, Horvitz says, about 3,800 people were using the system to field
their incoming phone calls.
H. Horvitz himself is one of those testers, and while we talk in his office in Redmond, Wash, Bestcom
silently handles one call after another. First it checks whether the caller is listed in his address book, the
company directory, or its log of people he has called recently. Triangulating these sources, it tries to
deduce their relationship. Family members, supervisors and people he called earlier today ring through
Others see a message on their computer that he is in a meeting and won’t be available until 3 RM. The
system scans Horvitz’s and the caller’s calendar and offers to reschedule the call at a time that is open for
both Some callers choose that option; others leave voice mail. E-mail messages get a similar screening.
When Horvitz is out of the office, Bestcom automatically offers to forward selected callers to his
cellphone—unless his calendar and other evidence suggest that he is in a meeting.
I. Most large companies already use computerized phone systems and standard calendar and contact
management software, so tapping into those “sensors” should be straightforward. Not all employees will
like the idea of having a microphone on all the time in them office, however, nor will everyone want to
expose them datebook to some program they do not ultimately control. Moreover, some managers might
be tempted to equate a “state of low attention” with “goofing off” and punish those who seem
insufficiently busy.
Questions 14-19: T/F/NG:
14. According to Ted Selker, human productivity has been disturbed by office competitors frequently.
15. If people are interrupted by calls or E-mails, they usually put up with it instead of taking
uncooperative action
16. Microsoft is now investigating a software which is compatible with ordinary office units
17. People usually have misperception about whether they are busy or not.
18. Researches conducted showed concentration-time span in office takes up only average a bit over than
65%.
19. Advanced phone and computer system will install a shortcut key for people receive information
immediately.
Question 20-26
Choose ONLY ONE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from like passage for each answer.
PASSAGE 3:
Irish Elk
Toothed cats, mastodons, giant sloths, woolly rhinos, and many other big, shaggy mammals are widely
thought to have died out around the end of the last ice age, some 10,500 years ago.
A
The Irish elk is also known as the giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus). Analysis of ancient bones and teeth
by scientists based in Britain and Russia show the huge herbivore survived until about 5,000 B.C. – more
than three millennia later than previously believed. The research team says this suggests additional
factors, besides climate change, probably hastened the giant deer’s eventual extinction. The factors could
include hunting or habitat destruction by humans.
B
The Irish elk, so-called because its well-preserved remains are often found in lake sediments under peat
bogs in Ireland, first appeared about 400,000 years ago in Europe and Central Asia. Through a
combination of radiocarbon dating of skeletal remains and the mapping of locations where the remains
were unearthed, the team shows the Irish elk was widespread across Europe before the last “big freeze.”
The deer’s range later contracted to the Ural Mountains, in modern-day Russia, which separate Europe
from Asia.
C
The giant deer made its last stand in western Siberia, some 3,000 years after the ice sheets receded, said
the study’s co-author, Adrian Lister, professor of palaeobiology at University College London, England.
“The eastern foothills of the Urals became very densely forested about 8,000 years ago, which could have
pushed them on to the plain,” he said. He added that pollen analysis indicates the region then became very
dry in response to further climatic change, leading to the loss of important food plants. “In combination
with human pressures, this could have finally snuffed them out,” Lister said.
D
Hunting by humans has often been put forward as a contributory cause of extinction of the Pleistocene
megafauna. The team, though, said their new date for the Irish elk’s extinction hints at an additional
human-made problem – habitat destruction. Lister said, “We haven’t got just hunting 7,000 years ago –
this was also about the time the first Neolithic people settled in the region. They were farmers who would
have cleared the land.” The presence of humans may help explain why the Irish elk was unable to tough
out the latest of many climatic fluctuations – periods it had survived in the past.
E
Meanwhile, Lister cast doubt on another possible explanation for the deer’s demise – the male’s huge
antlers. Some scientists have suggested this exaggerated feature – the result of females preferring stags
with the largest antlers, possibly because they advertised a male’s fitness – contributed to the mammal’s
downfall. They say such antlers would have been a serious inconvenience in the dense forests that spread
northward after the last ice age. But, Lister said, “That’s a hard argument to make because the deer
previously survived perfectly well through wooded interglacials [warmer periods between ice ages].”
Some research has suggested that a lack of sufficient high-quality forage caused the extinction of the elk.
High amounts of calcium and phosphate compounds are required to form antlers, and therefore large
quantities of these minerals are required for the massive structures of the Irish Elk. The males (and male
deer in general) met this requirement partly from their bones, replenishing them from food plants after the
antlers were grown or reclaiming the nutrients from discarded antlers (as has been observed in extant
deer). Thus, in the antler growth phase, Giant Deer was suffering from a condition similar to osteoporosis.
When the climate changed at the end of the last glacial period, the vegetation in the animal’s habitat also
changed towards species that presumably could not deliver sufficient amounts of the required minerals, at
least in the western part of its range.
F
The extinction of megafauna around the world was almost completed by the end of the last ice age. It is
believed that megafauna initially came into existence in response to glacial conditions and became extinct
with the onset of warmer climates. Tropical and subtropical areas have experienced less radical climatic
change. The most dramatic of these changes was the transformation of a vast area of North Africa into the
world’s largest desert. Significantly, Africa escaped major faunal extinction as did tropical and sub-
tropical Asia. The human exodus from Africa and our entrance into the Americas and Australia were also
accompanied by climate change. Australia’s climate changed from cold-dry to warm-dry. As a result,
surface water became scarce. Most inland lakes became completely dry or dry in the warmer seasons.
Most large, predominantly browsing animals lost their habitat and retreated to a narrow band in eastern
Australia, where there were permanent water and better vegetation. Some animals may have survived
until about 7000 years ago. If people have been in Australia for up to 60 000 years, then megafauna must
have co-existed with humans for at least 30 000 years. Regularly hunted modern kangaroos survived not
only 10 000 years of Aboriginal hunting, but also an onslaught of commercial shooters.
G
The group of scientists led by A.J. Stuart focused on northern Eurasia, which he was taking as Europe,
plus Siberia, essentially, where they’ve got the best data that animals became extinct in Europe during the
Late Pleistocene. Some cold-adapted animals, go through into the last part of the cold stage and then
become extinct up there. So you’ve actually got two phases of extinction. Now, neither of these coincides
– these are Neanderthals here being replaced by modern humans. There’s no obvious coincidence
between the arrival of humans or climatic change alone and these extinctions. There’s a climatic change
here, so there’s a double effect here. Again, as animals come through to the last part of the cold stage, here
there’s a fundamental change in the climate, reorganization of vegetation, and the combination of the
climatic change and the presence of humans – of advanced Paleolithic humans – causes this wave of
extinction. There’s a profound difference between the North American data and that of Europe, which
summarize that the extinctions in northern Eurasia, in Europe, are moderate and staggered, and in North
America severe and sudden. And these things relate to the differences in the timing of human arrival. The
extinction follows from human predation, but only at times of fundamental changes in the environment.
Questions 28-32
Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.
Having been preserved well in Europe and Central Asia, the remains of the Irish elk was initially found
approximately 28………………………. Around 29…………………………, they were driven to live in
the plain after being restricted to the Ural Mountains. Hunting was considered as one of the important
factors of Irish elk’s extinction, people have not started hunting until 30…………………….. when Irish
elk used to get through under a variety of climatic fluctuations.
The huge antlers may possibly contribute to the reason why Irish elk extinct, which was highly
controversial as they live pleasantly over the span of 31………………………. Generally, it is well-
known that, at the last maximum ice age, mammals become extinct about 32…………………….

Questions 33-35
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
33 What kind of physical characteristics eventually contributed to the extinction of Irish elk?

34 What kind of nutrient substance needed in maintaining the huge size of Irish elk?

35 What geographical evidence suggested the advent of human resulted in the extinction of Irish elk?

Questions 36-39
Choose the letter A-D and write your answers in boxes 36-39 on your answer sheet.
A Eurasia
B Australia
C Asia
D Africa
36 the continents where humans imposed a little impact on large mammals extinction
37 the continents where the climatic change was mild and fauna remains
38 the continents where both humans and climatic change are the causes
39 the continents where the climatic change along caused a massive extinction

Question 40
Which statement is true according to the Stuart team’s finding?
A Neanderthals rather than modern humans caused the extinction in Europe
B Paleolithic humans in Europe along kill the big animals such as Giant deer
C climatic change was not solely responsible for the megafauna extinction in Europe
D moderate and staggered extinction was mainly the result of fundamental climatic change