TALENT Q ENGLISH

SECTION 1 Questions 1 - 10

Birthday party arrangements

Which hotel offers the following facilities? Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, next to questions 1-6.
A. Royal Hotel 1. sea view ........
B. Star Hotel 2. disabled access ........
C. Winchester Hotel 3. indoor play area ........
D. all three hotels 4. choice of food ........
Example: 5. private dining room ........
online booking ...... B 6. group discount ........

Questions 7 - 10
Complete the notes below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
Things to do immediately
Send a 7 ........ to the Winchester Hotel
Make the 8 ........
Things to do later
Find out who needs help with 9 ........
Tell people not to bring any 10 ........

SECTION 2
Questions 11 - 20

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.

The game of curling

11. The four players on the team are called the .........., the Second, the Third and the Skip.
12. The length of ice on which curling is played is called the ..........
13. The target area is called the ..........
14. The main pieces of equipment used are stones and brushes.
15. Scottish brushes are usually made from ..........
16. One shoe needs to have a sole made of ..........
17. The captain of the team often carries a ..........

Questions 17 - 20
Choose the correct letter, A, B, or C.

17. Montreal Curling Club is famous as

A. the champion club of the local league.
B. the oldest sports club in the region.
C. the most influential club in winter sports.
18. The Caledonian Curling Club was formed in order to
A. attract interest in the sport.
B. train young players.
C. fix regulations for the game.

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19. In the 16th century, curling avoided being banned because

A. it was already so popular.
B. it was good training for battle.
C. it was only played by children.
20. Early curling games in Canada used implements made of
A. local material.
B. imported stone.
C. cast iron.

SECTION 3 Questions 21 - 30
Using scientific techniques to investigate works of art

21. What does Josh think about Jackson Pollock’s paintings?

A. They are easy to copy.
B. They are complex.
C. They are childish.
22. The $5 painting was considered to be a fake because
A. it lacked documentation.
B. it was too cheap.
C. it featured the wrong colours.
23. What made the International Foundation for Art Research reject the $5 painting?
A. what was on the back of the painting.
B. the type of paint used.
C. how the paint was applied.
24. What do Josh and Emily agree about art evaluation?
A. Only an experienced critic can evaluate a painting’s authenticity.
B. Modern scientific methods have replaced the traditional approach.
C. Experts from the science and art worlds should work together.

Questions 25 – 30 Choose SIX answers from the box and write the correct letter, A-H, next to questions 25-30.
A. ultrasound E. a radar machine
B. gamma-ray technology F. glass
C. stone G. a thermographic camera
D. a laser scanner H. brick

Seracini’s search for Leonardo Da Vinci’s Battle of Anghiari

25. Seracini used .......... to help make a model of the building.

26. Seracini used .......... to reveal different materials in the walls. He found the original architecture.
27. Seracini guessed that Da Vinci painted his masterpiece on the east wall, in a space that used to
hold ..........
28. Seracini analyzed the wall using .......... and discovered a second wall behind it.
29. Seracini hypothesized that the Da Vinci painting is still there on the original .......... wall.
30. Seracini is using .......... to prove his theory.

SECTION 4
Questions 31 - 40
Complete the notes below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
Sustainability

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Sustainability: Term first used in 1987 by writers of United Nations report

Lecture aim: Analysis of the 31 .......... surrounding sustainability
Sustainable development: Development that will meet the needs of both present and future 32 ........
Myth 1:
 No mention of the 33 .......... in original definition
 Original focus: poorer nations should have the same 34 .......... to natural resources as richer nations.
This would help them achieve better 35 .......... conditions.
Myth 2: ‘Green’ vs Sustainable
 Key difference: unlike ‘green’, ‘sustainable’ is not always associated with things that are natural
 For the sustainability lobby, the key problem is finding 36 .......... to develop technology
 Sustainability lobby is prepared to 37 .......... nuclear energy
Myth 3: Role of technology
 Introduction of battery stations on 38 .......... is an example of new business thinking, not new technology
 Agriculture: some farmers plant crops like sunflowers which don’t use much water, unlike 39 ..........
 Greater use of water is a result of changes in our 40 ........

When Maps were Made for the Public

Since the art of map-making began, maps have largely been made for explorers, academics, and rulers. It wasn’t
until the 19th century that the general public began to demand maps for themselves. More than anything else, it
was the appeal of travel to ordinary people that encouraged publishing companies to begin creating and printing
more maps than ever before, in order to meet the demand of their new market.

In the years after the American Civil War (1861–65), the rapidly growing US railroad system had so many
independent rail companies, schedules, and destinations that maps were critical for planning a person’s journey.
One publisher, Rand McNally, made a fortune from producing railways maps for different parts of the USA,
combined with a timetable and many descriptions of scenery and towns in the same booklet.

When safety improvements in the 1880s helped to make the bicycle popular, cycling maps quickly followed.
Trying to provide something special, publisher George Philip produced attractive-looking maps that would
remain in good condition even if they were exposed to water. In 1896, one of the finest cycling maps was
produced, in seven parts: George Blum’s Cyclers’ Guide and Road Book of California. Each cycle road was
highlighted in red and labelled with not only the type of surface riders could expect to find, but also an
indication of how steep it was.

The advent of the car brought a need for road maps and travel information. In 1900, André Michelin published a
guide about France, with maps that showed the location of different kinds of reasonably priced accommodation
and also car assistance for any mechanical problems. However, it was due primarily to its recommendations
regarding which was the best restaurant to go to that the guide quickly became something that a huge number of
tourists and travelers bought and relied on.

Nowhere was the need for road maps greater than in the United States. In 1902, the American Automobile
Association was founded in Chicago, and three years later it published its first road maps for long-distance
drivers. In 1917, Rand McNally began to publish Auto Trails Maps, a series of maps that each focused in detail
on a different region that people might hope to visit within North America. The same publisher also helped to
establish the US’s system of identifying its roads. Previously roads had names, following the European
tradition, but now, thanks in part to Rand McNally, they were allocated numbers instead. Also in the early
twentieth century, publisher H. M. Gousha Company developed the Touraide, a set of spiral-bound maps with
places to stay and eat and points of interest, ordered in advance and assembled individually for the traveller

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The oil companies did not take long to realize the profit to be made from Americans exploring the open road, so
service stations soon began to distribute free maps to encourage this. Free road maps became part of the fabric
of American life, and it has been estimated that more than ten billion were distributed before the 1970s. It was
then that the rising costs of oil and subsequent falling consumption led to the oil companies investigating where
savings could be made. The maps were one of the first things to go.

Another map product was the aeronautical chart for pilots. The first examples were produced in France and
England around 1911. Techniques progressed greatly during World War I, and during the 1920s there was
continual development of maps for air navigation.

New maps also became available for those who only wanted to cross town by train. Some of the early maps of
the London Underground were based on the city above ground; therefore, although they were accurate in terms
of distance and direction, the maps were confusing because the stations in central London were so crowded
together. In 1931, Harry Beck produced a map that looked rather like an electrical circuit, with straight lines and
symbols. It included only one feature above ground: the river Thames. The stations were also spaced relatively
equally, making the map much easier to read. Although Beck’s map was initially rejected as too radical, it was
approved in 1933. He continued to refine it for the next 25 years.

Shortly after Beck’s contribution to the mapping of subterranean London, an equally significant achievement
was performed above ground. Phyllis Pearsall was a painter who, in 1935, became lost on the way to a party in
London, due to the lack of a good map. This inspired her to plot all of London, and the next year she traced and
catalogued its 23,000 streets. With map-maker James Duncan, Pearsall then produced an atlas and a
comprehensive street index. Unable to interest any of the major publishers, the two founded their own company,
the Geographer’s Map Company Ltd, and produced what was then called the A-Z Atlas and Guide to London.
The company still exists and now publishes more than 300 different A-Z maps and atlases.

Questions 1 – 6
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
The development of maps from the 19th century onwards
 A growing interest in travel led to the increased production of maps in the 19th century.
After 1865:
 Rand McNally made a lot of money by putting a map and a 1 ........... in one publication.
After 1880:
 George Philip produced maps that could not be damaged by water.
 George Blum’s cycling map showed:
o the kind of 2 ........... the paths had
o how steep the paths might be.
1900 onwards:
 André Michelin’s guide provided information about:
o finding economical 3 ...........
o what to do if your car broke down.
 The Michelin guide became popular mainly because it helped people select a 4 ...........
1917 onwards:
 Rand McNally:
o The company’s Auto Trails Maps helped people explore roads through a particular 5 ........... of
the USA.
o The company was also responsible for giving 6 ........... to American roads.

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Questions 7 – 13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 7-13 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 Touraide was organised according to the particular needs of each traveller.
8. It was the high price of oil that stopped free maps being given out to the public.
9. In the 1920s, maps for pilots helped improve safety records for flights.
10. People found the early maps of the London Underground easy to read.
11. Harry Beck had previous experience of map-making when he produced a map of the underground.
12. Beck’s first version of the underground map met with a positive reaction.
13. Phyllis Pearsall was the first woman to produce a published map.

Preserving Antarctic History

Protecting early buildings in Antarctica
A
Few people conjuring up the ‘most comfortable dwelling place imaginable’ are likely to picture a wooden
shelter on an island off the coldest continent on the Earth. But that’s how Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon
Scott described the hut at Cape Evans on Ross Island that was the base for his 1910–13 expedition. The hut is
nestled below a small hill on a long stretch of black sand. In 2011, it looked like a building site, but now, seals
lie on the ice in front of what now resembles a hut, and snow reflects off the cliffs of the nearby glacier.
B
The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust (NZAHT) and its team of conservation workers recently announced
the completion of 10 years of intensive work to save three historic buildings on Ross Island. As well as the hut
at Cape Evans, it has worked on the Discovery Hut from Scott’s 1901–04 expedition at Hut Point, and the hut at
Cape Royds, built for Ernest Shackleton’s 1907–09 expedition. When work began, many of the artefacts were
temporarily removed while carpenters from the team of conservation workers repaired the walls, floors, and
roof. In Scott’s ‘zone of command’ was the table where team member Edward Wilson made his enduring
biological and botanical illustrations. In a dark corner nearby, Edward Atkinson had once incubated his moulds
and parasites. Of particular interest is the small workbench and array of test tubes, sample jars and Bunsen
burner stands used by biologist Edward Nelson, lit by sunshine through a dusty window. This was where the
young scientist preserved marine specimens as part of his search for new species and an understanding of the
Antarctic food chain.
C
The NZAHT executive director Nigel Watson describes the three restored huts as ‘fantastic remnants of
humans’ first contact with the continent’. The idea for the birth of the conservation project, he says, was the fact
that we were in great danger of losing them. When the on-site work began in 2004, snow and ice were building
up around, under and sometimes inside the huts, damaging the structures and threatening their contents. ‘We
now have the three buildings that are structurally sound and watertight with a very different feel – they are drier
and lighter and the humidity is reduced. It’s a much better environment for the collection.’
D
As well as heritage carpenters, the NZAHT team on Ross Island has included experts in textile, paper and metal
conservation: in total, 62 experts from 11 countries have visited Antarctica to work on the project, often
spending a whole summer on-site, sleeping in tents and popping 25km back to Scott Base for the occasional
shower. ‘It became known as the most exciting conservation project in the world,’ says Watson, ‘so it attracted
top heritage conservation talent.’
E
Some of the most exciting discoveries were three intact crates of ‘Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt
Whisky’ found encased in ice beneath Shackleton’s hut, a paper notebook that belonged to surgeon, zoologist
and photographer George Murray Levick found buried in dirt at Cape Evans and a small box of 22 cellulose
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nitrate negatives waiting to be developed into photographs found in Herbert Ponting’s darkroom. But most of
the 18,202 items catalogued and conserved are more mundane: food, tools, clothing and other personal items
that were not precious enough to be taken home on the return voyages.
F
The NZAHT team’s conservation treatments involved thorough cleaning, followed by chemical treatment to
help slow, or even reverse, the deterioration. Metal items would go through corrosion removal, followed by a
chemical stabilisation treatment, then application of an oxygen and moisture barrier to prevent further corrosion.
Treatment of paper items often involved washing to remove harmful acids and salts and to help reinforce the
fibres so that in some cases the paper was even stronger than before.
G
As a result of the project, the NZAHT has become the world leader in cold-climate heritage conservation and its
members have been interviewed for numerous television documentaries and radio reports. The Ross Island huts
are ‘the jewels in the crown,’ says Watson, but there are other historic buildings needing attention. With
logistics support from Antarctica New Zealand, programme managers Al Fastier and Lizzie Meek will be part
of a small team heading to Cape Adare, an exposed site more than 700km north of Scott Base. The two Cape
Adare huts, remnants of an 1898–1900 British expedition, ‘are not only the first buildings on the continent,’
says Watson, but also ‘the only example of humanity’s first buildings on any continent on Earth.’
H
The three-year restoration effort will involve construction repairs and the removal, conservation and return of
about 1100 objects. Compared with the hut sites on Ross Island, which are relatively sheltered, Cape Adare is ‘a
very remote and challenging place to work in,’ says Watson. It’s set among the world’s biggest colony of
Adélie penguins on an exposed spit of land, and it is important that they don’t interrupt the functioning of the
colony in any way while they are there. Lizzie Meek looks forward to the challenge. ‘But I’m also really
looking forward to going back to the Ross Island huts and seeing them with fresh eyes. After so many years of
working on them, to be able to step inside and look around to see what we have accomplished will be amazing.’
I
If you can find your way to Antarctica, you’ll need a permit to visit any of these huts, which are each in an
Antarctic Specially Protected Area. But there’s an easier way to see them without making the long journey: the
trust has partnered with Google to offer Street View walkthroughs of each of the dwellings, available via
Google Earth or through the NZAHT’s website.
Questions 14 – 19 Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs, A-I. Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 14-19 on
your answer sheet.
14. A reason the early explorers left some objects behind
15. An explanation of how to see the huts without travelling to Antarctica
16. Reference to the fact that Robert Falcon Scott enjoyed the time he spent living in the hut
17. Reference to how the Ross Island project has received attention from the media
18. The reason the trust decided to begin conservation work at Ross Island
19. A description of the process for preserving paper
Questions 20 and 21
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which TWO research activities were carried out by Scott’s expedition team?
A. collecting samples of sea life
B. monitoring penguin behaviour
C. studying the effects of cold on the human body
D. keeping a record of Antarctic weather patterns
E. drawing pictures of plants and animals
Questions 22 and 23
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which TWO statements are true about the conservation workers on Ross Island?
A. They lived in Scott’s huts while carrying out the work.
B. They were in Antarctica for months at a time.
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C. They had previously worked together in New Zealand.

D. They restored the contents as well as the buildings themselves.
E. They had no access to showers at all.
Questions 24 – 26
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.
Cape Adare
Cape Adare is located several hundred kilometres north of Scott’s hut. The huts on Cape Adare are not as
24 ........... as those on Ross Island and the workers have to be careful not to disturb the group of 25 ...........
living nearby. Visitors to Antarctica must have a 26 ........... to see the restored huts.
READING PASSAGE 3
Questions 27 – 33: Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings

i. A negative reaction to receiving flowers

ii. Some surprisingly strong responses to flowers

iii. A mutually beneficial relationship? 27. Paragraph A

iv. Becoming more open about personal matters 28. Paragraph B
v. Some common social functions of flowers 29. Paragraph C
vi. Sensory appeal versus practical purpose of 30. Paragraph D
flowers 31. Paragraph E
vii. Bridging the gap between strangers in an 32. Paragraph F
enclosed space 33. Paragraph G
viii. An imperfect theory

Flower Power
A Why do we give people flowers? To offer condolence to those who are grieving. To celebrate. To woo. To
ask for forgiveness. We all know intuitively that there is something psychologically powerful about giving
flowers; in fact, few objects provoke such a universal emotional response. In the US alone, the flower industry
is now worth about $5bn a year – which suggests that, at the very least, they service a compelling human need.
B Recent studies at the Department of Psychology at Rutgers State University of New Jersey investigated
claims that flowers are unique among living organisms in their ability to induce profound changes in our
emotional state. As the first part of their research, the Rutgers team visited 150 women in their homes. Each
woman was presented with a variety of gifts such as flowers, fruit, or sweets. The women were unaware that the
study was about the effects of the flowers on their emotions. They were told that it was a study about their daily
moods, and that they would receive a gift in return for taking part. Following the presentation of the gifts, those
receiving flowers were assessed as displaying a much more positive mood than those who got other gifts, and
this effect lasted for several days. After receiving flowers, they were also more willing to answer questions
concerning their social circle and intimate conversations with friends and family. The results suggest that
flowers influence our secondary socio-emotional behaviours, as well as having a strong effect on our immediate
emotional expression.
C In the second study, the psychologists observed participants being handed single flowers, or alternative gifts,
in a constrained and stressful situation – inside an elevator. Contrary to predictions regarding gender
differences, both men and women presented with flowers were more likely to smile, to stand closer, and to
initiate conversation. Several subjects who were given the alternative gift then learnt that flowers were also
being handed out and returned to the elevator and demanded a flower. The scientists used elevators for this
study precisely because the most typical behaviour in sparsely occupied elevators is for people to retreat to
opposite corners. The subjects who received flowers, however, closed up that space to a considerable extent –

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indicating that the flowers not only induced a strong positive mood, but brought a significant affiliation among
people who had never met before.
D The third study involved regularly sending flowers to a selected sample of men and women. The researchers
found not only a profound elevation of mood, but also reliable improvements in other measures of cognitive
function, including memory. In this series of experiments, some participants produced such extraordinary
emotional displays that the psychologists were totally unprepared for them. Subjects gave spontaneous hugs and
kisses to the people who delivered the flowers, and sent invitations to the psychologists to come to their homes
for refreshments.
E Various evolutionary hypotheses attempt to explain the remarkably powerful psychological effect of flowers.
One is that our aesthetic preferences for fertile locations and growing things stem from prehistory, when having
these cues in our environment could mean the difference between starvation and survival. We may have become
hardwired to respond positively to flowers because of our early reliance on them as a particular location
predicted future food supplies and possibly a better place to rear children. Yet the flaw in this argument is that
many flowers which we now find most visually attractive are generally found on those plants which yield no
edible products.
F The Rutgers psychologists’ findings show that the various physical attributes of flowers combine to directly
affect our emotions through multi-channel interactions. We have evolved preferences for the particular colours,
textures, patterned symmetries and specific floral odours which influence our moods. Indeed, previous research
has established that popular perfumes, which often have a floral ‘top-note’, will actually reduce depression. The
origins of these inclinations may well be as the evolutionary theories suggest: the patterned symmetries of
flowers can be detected easily as a recognizable signal within a wide variety of visual arrays, and a response to
certain colour tones is important in finding ripe fruit against a leafy background. But, claim the Rutgers team,
these preferences have long been separated from their primary evolutionary use, and become rewarding to us
more generally. Thus plants with preferred colours, shapes and odours – despite having no other products –
would therefore be protected and dispersed.
G The Rutgers study suggests that flowers may have actually evolved to exploit their peculiar impact on
humans. The team’s theory proposes a plant-human co-evolution, or even domestication, based on the intense
emotional rewards that flowers provide. The idea that flowering plants, with no known food or other basic
survival value to man, have co-evolved with us by exploiting an emotional niche instead, is very much like the
scenario presented for the evolution of dogs. Flowers may be the plant equivalent of ‘companion animals’. If
this is true, then there is a very real sense in which, when you next give flowers, they are using you just as much
as you are using them.
Questions 34 – 37 Classify the following statements as referring to:
 A the first study
 B the second study
 C the third study
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 34-37 on your answer sheet.
34. The study focused on participants’ short-term reaction to receiving flowers.
35. Participants were deliberately misled as to the aim of the study.
36. Receiving flowers had a notable effect on participants’ mental capacities.
37. Male and female responses were more uniform than expected.
Questions 38 – 40
Complete the summary of paragraph E below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from paragraph E for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.
A possible explanation for the appeal of flowers
It has been suggested that our intense response to flowers originates in prehistoric times. The presence of
flowers might indicate a potential source of 38 .......... in a particular location, and primitive humans would
search for such signs when looking for a suitable site to raise their 39 .......... . The interpretation of these signs
was essential for the survival of our ancestors. However, the problem with this idea is that the plants producing
the most attractive flowers do not usually have fruit which is 40 .......... .