READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage
1 on pages 2 and 3.

A Brief History of Humans and Food

During the journey from our hunter-gatherer ancestors to the present day there have been
three seismic changes that have had an impact on the food we eat: the discovery of cooking,
the emergence of agriculture and the invention of methods of preserving food.
The 19th-century scientist Charles Darwin thought that cooking, after language, was the
greatest discovery made by man. All of us eat some raw food, for instance fruit and
vegetables, but the great majority of food we eat is cooked. Cooking can turn plants that are
inedible into edible food by destroying toxic chemicals that plants often manufacture to
protect themselves against attack by insects or other herbivorous animals. These toxic
chemicals are referred to as ‘plant secondary compounds’, because they are not directly
involved in the plant’s normal growth, development and reproduction, and are produced
purely as chemical defences. They give many of the plants we consume, such as coffee or
brussels sprouts. their bitter taste.
Cooked food is often more digestible, because heat breaks down tough cellulose cell walls in
plants or tough connective tissue in animals. Chewing raw turnip, a plate of uncooked rice, or
a raw leg of lamb is much harder work than eating the cooked equivalent. The energy
expended in chewing to break down the tough material is replaced by energy from the fuel
that is used in cooking the food, so the ratio of energy gained to energy expended by the body
is greater when food is cooked.
Until the development of agriculture, hunter-gatherers spent up to seven hours a day gathering
food. This all began to change around 10,500 years ago with the advent of farming, which led
to some dramatic changes in human societies. People began to create a variety of new tools to
help with survival, and in turn populations increased in size. These changes led to the
possibility of specialisation of different tasks within society. It was around this time that
writing became more sophisticated and allowed people to maintain records of the harvest and
taxes. Eventually. formalised structures of government were established as people settled in
one area.
The arrival of agriculture meant that, for the first time, our ancestors had more food than they
could eat immediately. This, combined with the seasonality of production, led them to
discover methods of preserving food: smoking, drying, adding acid by fermentation or adding
salt. These four methods all share one feature in common: they make the food a more hostile
environment for bacteria that can cause it to spoil. They also tend to slow down any natural
chemical reactions in the food that would cause decay.
Although foods today are still preserved in the ancient ways. two more recent methods of
preserving food have become more common: canning and freezing. Canning was invented by
a Frenchman, Nicholas Appert, in the early-19th century. He sealed food in bottles fabricated
from glass and then heated them in boiling water to cook the contents. Appert’s method had
great advantages over older methods of food preservation: it could be applied to a wide range
of foods, and the flavour of the food as well as the texture were similar to the freshly cooked
product. His idea was soon copied be Englishman, Peter Durand. Until this point containers
had weighed too much to be widely used, but he produced the first ones which were light and
resistant to damage. Two years later, in 1812, two Englishmen, Bryan Donkin and John Hall,
started the commercial canning of food, although the real take-off in popularity of canning
had to wait until the can opener was invented in 1855. Up to this time, cans were opened with
a chisel which was used to break open the top when hit with a hammer. Canning is an
extremely effective way of preserving food: one can which contained meat dating from 1824
was opened in 1939 and the contents were still in good condition.
In the 21st century, the dominance of canning as a method of food preservation has been
overtaken by another technology: freezing. Chilling food to keep it fresh is an old idea. The
earliest mentions of icehouses, thick-walled buildings, half underground, date back to
1,700BC in northwest Iran. In early 16th-century Italy, water was mixed with chemicals to
lower its freezing point to -18 degrees Celsius, and several centuries later frozen fish and
other goods were transported by ship from Australia to England. But the modern frozen food
industry was started in the 1920s by an American, Clarence Birdseye. While Birdseye was on
a fishing trip with the Inuit in the Canadian Arctic, he observed that very rapid freezing
creates smaller ice crystals and therefore causes less damage to food. This was something he
had not expected. Nevertheless, the big growth in demand for frozen food came about with
the arrival of freezers in the homes of ordinary people. The advantages of frozen over canned
food include the fact that the flavour and consistency are often identical to the equivalent
fresh product, and that freezing can be used to preserve a huge variety of foods.
Questions 1 – 5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-5 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
1 According to Darwin, cooking was the most significant development in human
history.
2 The process of cooking gets rid of some plant poisons.
3 Eating cooked food is more energy efficient than eating raw food.
4 Clarence Birdseye had previously worked in the Australian food industry.
5 Birdseye’s trip with the not confirmed what he already believed about rapid freezing.
Questions 6 – 13
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 6-13 on your answer sheet.
The development of agriculture and food preservation
The changes agriculture brought about were:
• the development of equipment and larger 6 ………………
• the ability to keep 7 ……………… as writing developed
• the setting up of organised government

Food preservation
• early methods of food preservation included: smoking, drying and combining food
with acid or 8 ……………….
• canning
- Nicholas Appert put food into containers made of 9 …………….
- Appert’s method resulted in preserved food that had the same taste and
10 …………… as fresh food
- Peter Durand introduced cans which had the advantage of being 11 ………………
and hard to break
- in 1855, the metal can opener replaced the 12 ……………… which had been used
with a hammer to open cans
- some food was still found to be edible after more than a hundred years, e.g.
an old can of 13 ………………
• freezing
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage
2 on pages 6 and 7.
Photovoltaics
Residential use of photovoltaics – by day excess power is sent to the grid, and by night power
is supplied to the home.
A In the past, urban home owners have not always had much choice in the way electricity
is supplied to their homes. Now, however, there is a choice, and a rapidly increasing number of
households worldwide are choosing the solar energy option. Solar energy, the conversion of
sunlight into energy, is made possible through the use of ‘photovoltaics’, which are simple
appliances that fit onto the roof of a house.
B The photovoltaic-powered home remains connected to the power lines, but no storage
is required on-site, only a box of electronics (the inverter) to interface between the photovoltaics
and the grid network. Figure 1 illustrates the system. During the day, when the home may not
be using much electricity, excess power from the solar array is fed back to the grid, to factories
offices that need daytime power. At night, power flows the opposite way. The grid network
effectively provides storage. If the demand for electricity is well matched to when the sun
shines, solar energy is especially valuable. This occurs in places like California in the US and
Japan, where air-conditioning loads for offices and factories are large but heating loads for the
home are small.
C The first systematic exploration of the use of photovoltaics on homes began in the US
during the 1970s, a well-conceived program started with the siting of a number of ‘residential
experiment stations’ at selected locations around the country, representing different climatic
zones. These stations contained a number of ‘dummy’ houses, each with a different solar-
energy system design. Homes within the communities close to these stations were monitored
to see how well their energy use matched the energy generated by the stations’ dummy roofs.
A change in US government priorities in the early 1980s halted this program.
D with the US effort dropping away, the Japanese Sunshine Project came to the fore. A
large residential test station was installed on Rokko Island beginning in 1986. This installation
consists of 18 ‘dummy’ house, each equipped with its own 2-5 kilowatt photovoltaic system
(about 20-50 square metres for each system). For the other systems, electronics
simulate these household loads. This test station has allowed the technical issues involved in
using photovoltaics within the electricity network to be explored in a systematic way, under
well-controlled test conditions. With no insurmountable problems identified, the Japanese have
used the experience gained from this station to begin their own massive residential
photovoltaics campaign.
E Meanwhile, Germany began a very important ‘1000 roof program’ in 1990, aimed at
installing photovoltaics on the roofs of 1000 private homes. Large federal and regional
government subsidies were involved, accounting in most cases for 70 per cent of the total
system costs. The program proved immensely popular, forcing its extension to over 2000 homes
scattered across Germany. The success of this program stimulated other European countries to
launch similar programs.
F Japan’s ‘one million roof program’ was prompted by the experience gained in the Rokko
Island test site and success of the German 1000 roof program. The initially quoted aims of the
Japanese New Energy Development Organisation were to have 70,000 homes equipped with
photovoltaics by the year 2000, on the way to one million by 2020. The program made a modest
start in 1994, when 539 systems were installed with a government subsidy of 50 per cent. Under
this program, entire new suburban developments are using photovoltaics.
G The Japanese initiative in embracing residential photovoltaics on a large scale prompted
responses in both Europe and the US. The European Commission has called for one million
solar residential systems before the year 2010, with 500,000 in Europe and 500,000 in the
developing world, to be subsidised by the Commission. In 1997, a similar one million roof
target was announced in the US. Since then, several other countries including Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands and Australia, have announced their own targets for residential photovoltaics.
H This is good news, not only for the photovoltaic industry, but for everyone concerned
with the environment. The use of fossil fuels to generate electricity is not only costly in financial
terms, but also in terms of environmental damage. Gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels
in the production of electricity are a major contributor to the greenhouse effect. To deal with
this problem, many governments are now proposing stringent targets on the amount of
greenhouse gas emissions permitted. These targets mean that all sources of greenhouse gas
emissions, including residential electricity use, will receive closer attention in the future.
I It is likely that, in the future, governments will develop building codes that attempt to
constrain the energy demands of new housing. For example, the use of photovoltaics or the
equivalent may be stipulated to lessen demands on the grid network and hence reduce fossil
fuel emissions. Approvals for building renovations may also be conditional upon talking such
energy-saving measures. If this were to happen, everyone would benefit. Although there is an
initial cost in attaching the system to the rooftop, the householder’s outlay is soon compensated
with the savings on energy bills. In addition, everyone living on the planet stands to gain from
the more benign environmental impact.
Questions 14-19
The text has nine paragraphs, A-I. Which paragraph contains the following information?
NB You may choose any paragraph more than once.
14 examples of countries where electricity use is greater during the day than at night
15 a detailed description of an experiment that led to photovoltaics being promoted throughout
the country
16 the negative effects of using conventional means of generating electricity
17 an explanation of the photovoltaic system
18 the long-tern benefits of using photovoltaics
19 a reference to wealthy countries being prepared to help less wealthy countries have access
to photovoltaics

Questions 20-26
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information given in the text
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.
20 Photovoltaics are used to store electricity.
21 Since the 1970s, the US government has provided continuous support for the use of
photovoltaics on homes.
22 The solar-powered houses on Rokko Island are uninhabited.
23 In 1994, the Japanese government was providing half the money required for installing
photovoltaics on homes.
24 Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Australia all have strict goals with regard to
greenhouse gas emissions.
25 Residential electricity use is the major source of greenhouse gas emissions.
26 Energy-saving measures must now be included in the design of all new homes and
improvements to buildings.
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading
Passage 3 on pages 9 and 10.
Crossing the Threshold
The renovated Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand unites old and new, creating an
irresistible urge to step inside
Architects are finding it very difficult in an abandoned building. For the survey
today’s cultural landscape. The profession authors, ‘threshold fear’ – where certain
faces a three-way threat: a public that groups are intimidated from entering
apparently doesn’t understand what certain spaces by their off-putting
architects do, developers who couldn’t care atmosphere – was the institution’s
less what they do, and overbearing undoing, something no architect wants
councils micromanaging every single anything to do with. For those young
aspect of what they do. According to people Auckland Art Gallery was
sources within the architectural profession, undemocratic, ‘dusty’ and ‘cold’ – the
the situation is much worse when epitome of threshold fear. Also, 16% of the
architects work on municipal buildings, as sample group had no idea where it even
architects FJMT and Archimedia was, despite being interviewed on the
discovered with their Auckland Gallery pavement right outside it. Clearly, the
makeover, where a vast number of external gallery was fatally out of step at a time
pressures threatened the project, and with when New Zealand’s national museum in
so many bureaucratic difficulties it looked Wellington was successfully engaging
doomed to fail. broader audiences with contemporary
branding and marketing, interactive
The major challenge of the gallery
displays and temporary events.
renovation project was that it involved two
parts. The first was to restore the heritage The decision to evolve the gallery was
building, dating back to 1888, which actually made in 2000, although it too
contained a network of small spaces, eight years for building to commence, the
refurbished so often it contained 17 architects fought off heritage committees
different floor heights. The second was to and conservationists trying stop them. The
deliver a new extension that would not architects were not just dealing with a
only double floor and exhibition space but disillusioned public, but also with precious
also attract new patrons, a total necessity. timber and the parkland which surrounds
While the old building’s circulation was the building. Pushing the design through
off-putting, so was something intangible the Environment Court, the body which
yet just as powerful: its atmosphere. For approves renovations of this scale, alone
many, Auckland Art Gallery was just an took three years. During this time the
old building that served a limited range of budget blew out by several million dollars,
patrons with highbrow interests, missing the funding dried up, and the new wing
its chance to engage with new audiences. had to be completely redesigned. Even
after the redesign, the use of kauri timber,
A 2003 survey of young people’s
with its significance to New Zealand’s
impressions of the gallery confirmed this
Maori people*, stirred up political debate.
opinion, sounding more like references to

*
Maori: an indigenous people who were already
living in New Zealand when Europeans arrived
In the new building the architects have makes the art accessible to those in the
used kauri to produce a canopy with a park, a far cry from both ‘white cube’
curving interior roof supported by tapered. galleries worldwide, the plain boxes where
steel columns, also clad in kauri. The paintings are hung in antiseptic white
canopy represents a signature public face, surroundings. and also the dusty'
its curvature filtering light to the forecourt impermeable Auckland Gallery of old.
to the west and creating a visual echo of
Another success is the refurbishment of the
the canopy of pohutukawa trees in Albert
heritage building, especially the Mackelvie
Park to the east. The park also has cultural
Gallery, in disrepair after its characteristic
significance to Maori as it was the site of
early twentieth-century Edwardian
early settlements.
decoration had been stripped out or walled
The connection is reinforced by sculptures away in previous renovations. Remarkably
from Maori artist Arnold Wilson the Mackelvie space has been
decorating the columns, while fellow artist reconstructed from two old photos,
Bernard Makoare was a consultant, although the problem of multiple floor
ensuring the gallery emphasised Maori levels was so serious that scaffolding had
beliefs. Still that didn’t stop the to be erected at the highest level, with
conservationist Stephen King from work progressing downwards, the reverse
accusing the architects of ‘throwing’ kauri of normal practice. When it was over, a
at a ‘mediocre building’ and of fascinating detail was retained: the lowest
misappropriating the ‘mana’ (spiritual level visible under glass embedded in the
energy) of the precious material (which is new floor, the building itself as artwork,
almost extinct: harvesting of both petrified while elsewhere columns from the old
and swamp kauri has been likened to a gallery have been exposed in the walls of
gold rush). However, the kauri that was the new wing.
used here was from the forest floor, and
In 2008 the gallery averaged just 190,000
King’s misconceptions sum up the
visitors annually. After reopening, it had
prejudice that surrounded the project.
300,000 in five months. Cynics will chalk
Objections also came from the Auckland that up to novelty of the new, but the fact
Regional Council, worrying about the is the gallery is now an alluring cultural
extension’s impact on Albert Park, yet the space which is crawling with young
project’s relationship with parkland is one people.
of the most successful outcomes. Impact is
not only minimal, but improves the park’s
social function. The extension’s enormous
glass atrium opens up the building by
directing the gaze from street level to the
parkland beyond, while inside, the new art
space is fronted along the east by a
continuous glass wall incorporating the
park into the gallery. The glass becomes a
‘screen’ for viewing the outside world and
Questions 27 – 31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 On your answer sheet.
27 What is the writer’s main point in the first paragraph?
A Criticism of architects by different groups is unfair.
B The architectural profession is generally well respected.
C The most difficult projects for architects are public buildings.
D Failure to deliver buildings is a result of poor communication.
28 The Auckland Gallery project was particularly difficult because
A the existing building was old and parts of it had fallen down.
B there was a high number of floors in the building.
C it needed to satisfy the requirements of the existing patrons.
D it involved renovating the existing building and adding a new one.
29 What disturbing information did the architects find out from the survey of young
people?
A They did not visit the gallery because of the way it made them feel.
B They thought that the gallery buildings were not in use.
C The gallery had the reputation of being dirty.
D They did not like the entrance.
30 What point is the writer making when he says that 16% of the sample group did not
know where the museum was?
A Young people are not interested in galleries.
B The gallery was not reaching out to involve young people.
C The entrance to the gallery was not well signposted.
D The location of the gallery was difficult to access.
31 Maori artists were used on this project to
A satisfy the concerns of conservationists.
B protect sacred materials in the Albert Park site.
C make sure the gallery respects Maori culture.
D ensure that certain sources of kauri were not used.
Questions 32 – 36
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 32-36 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
32 Before the renovation, the Auckland Art Gallery was regarded as an elitist institution.
33 Stephen King’s intervention in the project shows his understanding of the architects’
use of kauri.
34 The way the building interacts with its surroundings is a triumph.
35 The glass screen along the east wall was one of the most costly items in the rebuild.
36 The design of the extension to the Auckland Art Gallery is similar to the design of
‘white cube’ galleries in other parts of the world.
Questions 37 – 40
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
37 The destruction of Edwardian ornamentation
38 It is extraordinary that a limited number of photographs
39 The problem of having so many floor levels to deal with
40 The glass flooring in the Mackelvie Gallery which reveals old features

A resulted in work being done in the opposite direction to

that usually followed.
B is more than cosmetic and has improved the circulation.
C was the clue to rebuilding the Mackelvie Gallery
successfully.
D has resulted in the building itself becoming a work of
art.
E means that you should be able to tell whether you are
in the old wing or the new one.
F was the result of earlier attempts to modernise the
building.