(CAM 16 Test 04)

READING PASSAGE 1
Questions 1-13
The Romans, who once controlled areas of Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor, adopted the
construction techniques of other civilizations to build tunnels in their territories

The Persians, who lived in present-day Iran, were one of the first civilizations to build tunnels that
provided a reliable supply of water to human settlements in dry areas. In the early first millennium BCE,
they introduced the qanat method of tunnel construction, which consisted of placing posts over a hill in a
straight line, to ensure that the tunnel kept to its route, and then digging vertical shafts down into the
ground at regular intervals. Underground, workers removed the earth from between the ends of the
shafts, creating a tunnel. The excavated soil was taken up to the surface using the shafts, which also
provided ventilation during the work. Once the tunnel was completed, it allowed water to flow from the
top of a hillside down towards a canal, which supplied water for human use. Remarkably, some qanats
built by the Persians 2,700 years ago are still in use today.

They later passed on their knowledge to the Romans, who also used the qanat method to construct
water-supply tunnels for agriculture. Roma qanat tunnels were constructed with vertical shafts dug at
intervals of between 30 and 60 meters. The shafts were equipped with handholds and footholds to help
those climbing in and out of them and were covered with a wooden or stone lid. To ensure that the
shafts were vertical, Romans hung a plumb line from a rod placed across the top of each shaft and made
sure that the weight at the end of it hung in the center of the shaft. Plumb lines were also used to
measure the depth of the shaft and to determine the slope of the tunnel. The 5.6-kilometer-long
Claudius tunnel, built in 41 CE to drain the Fucine Lake in central Italy, had shafts that were up to 122
meters deep, took 11 years to build and involved approximately 30,000 workers.

By the 6th century BCE, a second method of tunnel construction appeared called the counter-excavation
method, in which the tunnel was constructed from both ends. It was used to cut through high mountains
when the qanat method was not a practical alternative. This method required greater planning and
advanced knowledge of surveying, mathematics and geometry as both ends of a tunnel had to meet
correctly at the center of the mountain. Adjustments to the direction of the tunnel also had to be made
whenever builders encountered geological problems or when it deviated from its set path. They
constantly checked the tunnel’s advancing direction, for example, by looking back at the light that
penetrated through the tunnel mouth, and made corrections whenever necessary. Large deviations could
happen, and they could result in one end of the tunnel not being usable. An inscription written on the
side of a 428-meter tunnel, built by the Romans as part of the Saldae aqueduct system in modern-day
Algeria, describes how the two teams of builders missed each other in the mountain and how the later
construction of a lateral link between both corridors corrected the initial error.

The Romans dug tunnels for their roads using the counter-excavation method, whenever they
encountered obstacles such as hills or mountains that were too high for roads to pass over. An example
is the 37-meter-long, 6-meter-high, Furlo Pass Tunnel built in Italy in 69-79 CE. Remarkably, a modern
road still uses this tunnel today. Tunnels were also built for mineral extraction. Miners would locate a
mineral vein and then pursue it with shafts and tunnels underground. Traces of such tunnels used to
mine gold can still be found at the Dolaucothi mines in Wales. When the sole purpose of a tunnel was
mineral extraction, construction required less planning, as the tunnel route was determined by the
mineral vein.

Roman tunnel projects were carefully planned and carried out. The length of time it took to construct a
tunnel depended on the method being used and the type of rock being excavated. The qanat
construction method was usually faster than the counter-excavation method as it was more
straightforward. This was because the mountain could be excavated not only from the tunnel mouths but
also from shafts. The type of rock could also influence construction times. When the rock was hard, the
Romans employed a technique called fire quenching which consisted of heating the rock with fire, and
then suddenly cooling it with cold water so that it would crack. Progress through hard rock could be very
slow, and it was not uncommon for tunnels to take years, if not decades, to be built. Construction marks
left on a Roman tunnel in Bologna show that the rate of advance through solid rock was 30 centimeters
per day. In contrast, the rate of advance of the Claudius tunnel can be calculated at 1.4 meters per day.
Most tunnels had inscriptions showing the names of patrons who ordered construction and sometimes
the name of the architect. For example, the 1.4-kilometer Çevlik tunnel in Turkey, built to divert the
floodwater threatening the harbor of the ancient city of Seleuceia Pieria, had inscriptions on the
entrance, still visible today, that also indicate that the tunnel was started in 69 CE and was completed in
81 CE.

Questions 1 – 6
Label the diagrams below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

Questions 7 – 10
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
 NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
7. The counter-excavation method completely replaced the qanat method in the 6th century BCE.
8. Only experienced builders were employed to construct a tunnel using the counter-excavation method.
9. The information about a problem that occurred during the construction of the Saldae aqueduct
system was found in an ancient book.
10. The mistake made by the builders of the Saldae aqueduct system was that the two parts of the
tunnel failed to meet.
Questions 11 – 13
Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.
11. What type of mineral were the Dolaucothi mines in Wales built to extract?
12. In addition to the patron, whose name might be carved onto a tunnel?
13. What part of Seleuceia Pieria was the Çevlik tunnel built to protect?
READING PASSAGE 2 Questions 14-26
Climate change reveals ancient artefacts in Norway’s glaciers

A. Well above the treeline in Norway’s highest mountains, ancient fields of ice are shrinking as Earth’s
climate warms. As the ice has vanished, it has been giving up the treasures it has preserved in cold
storage for the last 6,000 years – items such as ancient arrows and skis from Viking Age* traders. And
those artefacts have provided archaeologists with some surprising insights into how ancient Norwegians
made their livings.

B. Organic materials like textiles and hides are relatively rare finds at archaeological sites. This is because
unless they’re protected from the microorganisms that cause decay, they tend no to last long. Extreme
cold is one reliable way to keep artefacts relatively fresh for a few thousand years, but once thawed out,
these materials experience degradation relatively swiftly.

With climate change shrinking ice cover around the world, glacial archaeologists need to race the clock to
find newly revealed artefacts, preserve them, and study them. If something fragile dries and is
windblown it might very soon be lost to science, or an arrow might be exposed and then covered again
by the next snow and remain well-preserved. The unpredictability means that glacial archaeologists have
to be systematic in their approach to fieldwork.

C. Over a nine-year period, a team of archaeologists, which included Lars Pilø of Oppland County
Council, Norway, and James Barrett of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, surveyed
patches of ice in Oppland, an area of south-central Norway that is home to some of the country’s highest
mountains. Reindeer once congregated on these ice patches in the later summer months to escape biting
insects, and from the late Stone Age**, hunters followed. In addition, trade routes threaded through the
mountain passes of Oppland, linking settlements in Norway to the rest of Europe.
The slow but steady movement of glaciers tends to destroy anything at their bases, so the team focused
on stationary patches of ice, mostly above 1,400 metres. That ice is found amid fields of frost-weathered
boulders, fallen rocks, and exposed bedrock that for nine months of the year is buried beneath snow.

‘Fieldwork is hard work – hiking with all our equipment, often camping on permafrost – but very
rewarding. You’re rescuing the archaeology, bringing the melting ice to wider attention, discovering a
unique environmental history and really connecting with the natural environment,’ says Barrett.

D. At the edges of the contracting ice patches, archaeologists found more than 2,000 artefacts, which
formed a material record that ran from 4,000 BCE to the beginnings of the Renaissance in the 14th
century. Many of the artefacts are associated with hunting. Hunters would have easily misplaced arrows
and they often discarded broken bows rather than take them all the way home. Other items could have
been used by hunters traversing the high mountain passes of Oppland: all-purpose items like tools, skis,
and horse tack.

E. Barrett’s team radiocarbon-dated 153 of the artefacts and compared those dates to the timing of
major environmental changes in the region – such as periods of cooling or warming – and major social
and economic shifts – such as the growth of farming settlements and the spread of international trade
networks leading up to the Viking Age. They found that some periods had produced lots of artefacts,
which indicates that people had been pretty active in the mountains during those times. But there were
few or no signs of activity during other periods.

F. What was surprising, according to Barrett, was the timing of these periods. Oppland’s mountains
present daunting terrain and in periods of extreme cold, glaciers could block the higher mountain passes
and make travel in the upper reaches of the mountains extremely difficult. Archaeologists assumed
people would stick to lower elevations during a time like the Late Antique Little Ice Age, a short period of
deeper-than-usual cold from about 536-600 CE. But it turned out that hunters kept regularly venturing
into the mountains even when the climate turned cold, based on the amount of stuff they had
apparently dropped there.

‘Remarkably, though, the finds from the ice may have continued through this period, perhaps suggesting
that the importance of mountain hunting increased to supplement failing agricultural harvests in times of
low temperatures,’ says Barrett. A colder turn in the Scandinavian climate would likely have meant
widespread crop failures, so more people would have depended on hunting to make up for those losses.

G. Many of the artefacts Barrett’s team recovered date from the beginning of the Viking Age, the 700s
through to the 900s CE. Trade networks connecting Scandinavia with Europe and the Middle East were
expanding around this time. Although we usually think of ships when we think of Scandinavian
expansion, these recent discoveries show that plenty of goods travelled on overland routes, like the
mountain passes of Oppland. And growing Norwegian towns, along with export markets, would have
created a booming demand for hides to fight off the cold, as well as antlers to make useful things like
combs. Business must have been good for hunters.

H. Norway’s mountains are probably still hiding a lot of history – and prehistory – in remote ice patches.
When Barrett’s team looked at the dates for their sample of 153 artefacts, they noticed a gap with
almost no artefacts from about 3,800 to 2,200 BCE. In fact, archaeological finds from that period are rare
all over Norway. The researchers say that could be because many of those artefacts have already
disintegrated or are still frozen in the ice. That means archaeologists could be extracting some of those
artefacts from retreating ice in years to come.

* Viking Age: a period of European history from around 700 CE to around 1050 CE when Scandinavian
Vikings migrated throughout Europe by means of trade and warfare.

** The Stone Age: a period in early history that began about 3.4 million years ago.

Questions 14 – 19

The Reading Passage has eight sections, A-H.

Which section contains the following information?

Write the correct number, A-H, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

14. an explanation for weapons being left behind in the mountains

15. a reference to the physical difficulties involved in an archaeological expedition

16. an explanation of why less food may have been available

17. a reference to the possibility of future archaeological discoveries

18. examples of items that would have been traded

19. a reference to the pressure archaeologists are under to work quickly

Questions 20 – 22

Complete the summary below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 20-22 on your answer sheet.

Interesting finds at an archaeological site

Organic materials such as animal skins and textiles are not discovered very often at archaeological sites.
They have little protection against 20 _____, which means that they decay relatively quickly. But this is
not always the case. If temperatures are low enough, fragile artefacts can be preserved for thousands of
years.

A team of archaeologists have been working in the mountains in Oppland in Norway to recover artefacts
revealed by shrinking ice cover. In the past, there were trade routes through these mountains and 21
_______ gathered there in the summer months to avoid being attacked by 22 ________ on lower
ground. The people who used these mountains left things behind and it is those objects that are of
interest to archaeologists.

Questions 23 and 24

Choose TWO letters, A-E.

Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make about the discoveries of Barrett’s team?

A. Artefacts found in the higher mountain passes were limited to skiing equipment.

B. Hunters went into the mountains even during periods of extreme cold.

C. The number of artefacts from certain time periods was relatively low.

D. Radiocarbon dating of artefacts produced some unreliable results.

E. More artefacts were found in Oppland than at any other mountain site.

Questions 25 and 26

Choose TWO letters, A-E.

Write the correct letters in boxes 25 and 26 on your answer sheet.

Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make about the Viking Age?

A. Hunters at this time benefited from an increased demand for goods.

B. The beginning of the period saw the greatest growth in the wealth of Vikings.

C. Vikings did not rely on ships alone to transport goods.

D. Norwegian towns at this time attracted traders from around the world.

E. Vikings were primarily interested in their trading links with the Middle East.

Choose ONE of the following topics for your essay

ANSWER KEY

Passage 1: Roman tunnels

Passage 2: Ancient artefacts in Norway’s glaciers

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) can already predict the future. Police forces are using it to map when and where
crime is likely to occur. Doctors can use it to predict when a patient is most likely to have a heart attack
or stroke. Researchers are even trying to give AI imagination so it can plan for unexpected consequences.
Many decisions in our lives require a good forecast, and AI is almost always better at forecasting than we
are. Yet for all these technological advances, we still seem to deeply lack confidence in AI predictions.
Recent cases show that people don’t like relying on AI and prefer to trust human experts, even if these
experts are wrong.

If we want AI to really benefit people, we need to find a way to get people to trust it. To do that, we need
to understand why people are so reluctant to trust AI in the first place.

Take the case of Watson for Oncology, one of technology giant IBM’s supercomputer programs. Their
attempt to promote this program to cancer doctors was a PR disaster. The AI promised to deliver top-
quality recommendations on the treatment of 12 cancers that accounted for 80% of the world’s cases.
But when doctors first interacted with Watson, they found themselves in a rather difficult situation. On
the one hand, if Watson provided guidance about a treatment that coincided with their own opinions,
physicians did not see much point in Watson’s recommendations. The supercomputer was simply telling
them what they already knew, and these recommendations did not change the actual treatment.

On the other hand, if Watson generated a recommendation that contradicted the experts’ opinion,
doctors would typically conclude that Watson wasn’t competent. And the machine wouldn’t be able to
explain why its treatment was plausible because its machine-learning algorithms were simply too
complex to be fully understood by humans. Consequently, this has caused even more suspicion and
disbelief, leading many doctors to ignore the seemingly outlandish AI recommendations and stick to their
own expertise.

This is just one example of people’s lack of confidence in AI and their reluctance to accept what AI has to
offer. Trust in other people is often based on our understanding of how others think and having
experience of their reliability. This helps create a psychological feeling of safety. AI, on the other hand, is
still fairly new and unfamiliar to most people. Even if it can be technically explained (and that’s not
always the case), AI’s decision-making process is usually too difficult for most people to comprehend.
And interacting with something we don’t understand can cause anxiety and give us a sense that we’re
losing control.

Many people are also simply not familiar with many instances of AI actually working, because it often
happens in the background. Instead, they are acutely aware of instances where AI goes wrong.
Embarrassing AI failures receive a disproportionate amount of media attention, emphasising the message
that we cannot rely on technology. Machine learning is not foolproof, in part because the humans who
design it aren’t.

D
Feelings about AI run deep. In a recent experiment, people from a range of backgrounds were given
various sci-fi films about AI to watch and then asked questions about automation in everyday life. It was
found that, regardless of whether the film they watched depicted AI in a positive or negative light, simply
watching a cinematic vision of our technological future polarised the participants’ attitudes. Optimists
became more extreme in their enthusiasm for AI and sceptics became even more guarded.

This suggests people use relevant evidence about AI in a biased manner to support their existing
attitudes, a deep-rooted human tendency known as “confirmation bias”. As AI is represented more and
more in media and entertainment, it could lead to a society split between those who benefit from AI and
those who reject it. More pertinently, refusing to accept the advantages offered by AI could place a large
group of people at a serious disadvantage.

Fortunately, we already have some ideas about how to improve trust in AI. Simply having previous
experience with AI can significantly improve people’s opinions about the technology, as was found in the
study mentioned above. Evidence also suggests the more you use other technologies such as the
internet, the more you trust them.

Another solution may be to reveal more about the algorithms which AI uses and the purposes they serve.
Several high-profile social media companies and online marketplaces already release transparency
reports about government requests and surveillance disclosures. A similar practice for AI could help
people have a better understanding of the way algorithmic decisions are made.

Research suggests that allowing people some control over AI decision-making could also improve trust
and enable AI to learn from human experience. For example, one study showed that when people were
allowed the freedom to slightly modify an algorithm, they felt more satisfied with its decisions, more
likely to believe it was superior and more likely to use it in the future.

We don’t need to understand the intricate inner workings of AI systems, but if people are given a degree
of responsibility for how they are implemented, they will be more willing to accept AI into their lives.

Questions 27-32

Reading Passage 3 has six sections, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings

i An increasing divergence of attitudes towards AI

ii Reasons why we have more faith in human judgement than in AI

iii The superiority of AI projections over those made by humans

iv The process by which AI can help us make good decisions

v The advantages of involving users in AI processes

vi Widespread distrust of an AI innovation

vii Encouraging openness about how AI functions

viii A surprisingly successful AI application

27 Section A

28 Section B

29 Section C

30 Section D

31 Section E

32 Section F

Question 33-35

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 33-35 on your answer sheet.

33 What is the writer doing in Section A?

A providing a solution to a concern

C highlighting the existence of a problem

D explaining the reasons for a phenomenon

34 According to Section C, why might some people be reluctant to accept AI?

A They are afraid it will replace humans in decision-making jobs.

B Its complexity makes them feel that they are at a disadvantage.

C They would rather wait for the technology to be tested over a period of time.

D Misunderstandings about how it works make it seem more challenging than it is.

35 What does the writer say about the media in Section C of the text?

A It leads the public to be mistrustful of AI.

B It devotes an excessive amount of attention to AI.

C Its reports of incidents involving AI are often inaccurate.

D It gives the impression that AI failures are due to designer error.

Questions 36-40

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, 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

36 Subjective depictions of AI in sci-fi films make people change their opinions about automation.
37 Portrayals of AI in media and entertainment are likely to become more positive.

38 Rejection of the possibilities of AI may have a negative effect on many people’s lives.

39 Familiarity with AI has very little impact on people’s attitudes to the technology.

40 AI applications which users are able to modify are more likely to gain consumer approval.