104-IX-3A EOCT – Reading Welcome to your 104-IX-3A EOCT - Reading Thời gian làm bài là 60 phút Họ Tên và Mã Lớp Số điện thoại READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. Questions 1-6 Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet. Why being bored is stimulating – and useful, too This most common of emotions is turning out to be more interesting than we thought A We all know how it feels – it’s impossible to keep your mind on anything, time stretches out, and all the things you could do seem equally unlikely to make you feel better. But defining boredom so that it can be studied in the lab has proved difficult. For a start, it can include a lot of other mental states, such as frustration, apathy, depression and indifference. There isn’t even agreement over whether boredom is always a low-energy, flat kind of emotion or whether feeling agitated and restless counts as boredom, too. In his book, Boredom: A Lively History, Peter Toohey at the University of Calgary, Canada, compares it to disgust – an emotion that motivates us to stay away from certain situations. ‘If disgust protects humans from infection, boredom may protect them from “infectious” social situations,’ he suggests.B By asking people about their experiences of boredom, Thomas Goetz and his team at the University of Konstanz in Germany have recently identified five distinct types: indifferent, calibrating, searching, reactant and apathetic. These can be plotted on two axes – one running left to right, which measures low to high arousal, and the other from top to bottom, which measures how positive or negative the feeling is. Intriguingly, Goetz has found that while people experience all kinds of boredom, they tend to specialise in one. Of the five types, the most damaging is ‘reactant’ boredom with its explosive combination of high arousal and negative emotion. The most useful is what Goetz calls ‘indifferent’ boredom: someone isn’t engaged in anything satisfying but still feels relaxed and calm. However, it remains to be seen whether there are any character traits that predict the kind of boredom each of us might be prone to.C Psychologist Sandi Mann at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, goes further. ‘All emotions are there for a reason, including boredom,’ she says. Mann has found that being bored makes us more creative. ‘We’re all afraid of being bored but in actual fact it can lead to all kinds of amazing things,’ she says. In experiments published last year, Mann found that people who had been made to feel bored by copying numbers out of the phone book for 15 minutes came up with more creative ideas about how to use a polystyrene cup than a control group. Mann concluded that a passive, boring activity is best for creativity because it allows the mind to wander. In fact, she goes so far as to suggest that we should seek out more boredom in our lives.D Psychologist John Eastwood at York University in Toronto, Canada, isn’t convinced. ‘If you are in a state of mind-wandering you are not bored,’ he says. ‘In my view, by definition boredom is an undesirable state.’ That doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t adaptive, he adds. ‘Pain is adaptive – if we didn’t have physical pain, bad things would happen to us. Does that mean that we should actively cause pain? No. But even if boredom has evolved to help us survive, it can still be toxic if allowed to fester.’ For Eastwood, the central feature of boredom is a failure to put our ‘attention system’ into gear. This causes an inability to focus on anything, which makes time seem to go painfully slowly. What’s more, your efforts to improve the situation can end up making you feel worse. ‘People try to connect with the world and if they are not successful there’s that frustration and irritability,’ he says. Perhaps most worryingly, says Eastwood, repeatedly failing to engage attention can lead to state where we don’t know what to do any more, and no longer care.E Eastwood’s team is now trying to explore why the attention system fails. It’s early days but they think that at least some of it comes down to personality. Boredom proneness has been linked with a variety of traits. People who are motivated by pleasure seem to suffer particularly badly. Other personality traits, such as curiosity, are associated with a high boredom threshold. More evidence that boredom has detrimental effects comes from studies of people who are more or less prone to boredom. It seems those who bore easily face poorer prospects in education, their career and even life in general. But of course, boredom itself cannot kill – it’s the things we do to deal with it that may put us in danger. What can we do to alleviate it before it comes to that? Goetz’s group has one suggestion. Working with teenagers, they found that those who ‘approach’ a boring situation – in other words, see that it’s boring and get stuck in anyway – report less boredom than those who try to avoid it by using snacks, TV or social media for distraction.F Psychologist Francoise Wemelsfelder speculates that our over-connected lifestyles might even be a new source of boredom. ‘In modern human society there is a lot of overstimulation but still a lot of problems finding meaning,’ she says. So instead of seeking yet more mental stimulation, perhaps we should leave our phones alone, and use boredom to motivate us to engage with the world in a more meaningful way. 1. Paragraph A Please select your answer i - The productive outcomes that may result from boredom ii - What teachers can do to prevent boredom iii - A new explanation and a new cure for boredom iv - Problems with a scientific approach to boredom v - A potential danger arising from boredom vi - Creating a system of classification for feelings of boredom vii - Age groups most affected by boredom viii - Identifying those most affected by boredom 2. Paragraph B Please select your answer i - The productive outcomes that may result from boredom ii - What teachers can do to prevent boredom iii - A new explanation and a new cure for boredom iv - Problems with a scientific approach to boredom v - A potential danger arising from boredom vi - Creating a system of classification for feelings of boredom vii - Age groups most affected by boredom viii - Identifying those most affected by boredom 3. Paragraph C Please select your answer i - The productive outcomes that may result from boredom ii - What teachers can do to prevent boredom iii - A new explanation and a new cure for boredom iv - Problems with a scientific approach to boredom v - A potential danger arising from boredom vi - Creating a system of classification for feelings of boredom vii - Age groups most affected by boredom viii - Identifying those most affected by boredom 4. Paragraph D Please select your answer i - The productive outcomes that may result from boredom ii - What teachers can do to prevent boredom iii - A new explanation and a new cure for boredom iv - Problems with a scientific approach to boredom v - A potential danger arising from boredom vi - Creating a system of classification for feelings of boredom vii - Age groups most affected by boredom viii - Identifying those most affected by boredom 5. Paragraph E Please select your answer i - The productive outcomes that may result from boredom ii - What teachers can do to prevent boredom iii - A new explanation and a new cure for boredom iv - Problems with a scientific approach to boredom v - A potential danger arising from boredom vi - Creating a system of classification for feelings of boredom vii - Age groups most affected by boredom viii - Identifying those most affected by boredom 6. Paragraph F Please select your answer i - The productive outcomes that may result from boredom ii - What teachers can do to prevent boredom iii - A new explanation and a new cure for boredom iv - Problems with a scientific approach to boredom v - A potential danger arising from boredom vi - Creating a system of classification for feelings of boredom vii - Age groups most affected by boredom viii - Identifying those most affected by boredom Questions 7-10 Look at the following people (Questions 7-10) and the list of ideas below. Match each person with the correct idea, A-E. Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet. 7. Peter Toohey Please select your answer A - The way we live today may encourage boredom. B - One sort of boredom is worse than all the others. C - Levels of boredom may fall in the future. D - Trying to cope with boredom can increase its negative effects. E - Boredom may encourage us to avoid an unpleasant experience. 8. Thomas Goetz Please select your answer A - The way we live today may encourage boredom. B - One sort of boredom is worse than all the others. C - Levels of boredom may fall in the future. D - Trying to cope with boredom can increase its negative effects. E - Boredom may encourage us to avoid an unpleasant experience. 9. John Eastwood Please select your answer A - The way we live today may encourage boredom. B - One sort of boredom is worse than all the others. C - Levels of boredom may fall in the future. D - Trying to cope with boredom can increase its negative effects. E - Boredom may encourage us to avoid an unpleasant experience. 10. Francoise Wemelsfelder Please select your answer A - The way we live today may encourage boredom. B - One sort of boredom is worse than all the others. C - Levels of boredom may fall in the future. D - Trying to cope with boredom can increase its negative effects. E - Boredom may encourage us to avoid an unpleasant experience. Questions 11-13 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. Responses to boredom For John Eastwood, the central feature of boredom is that people cannot 11 , due to a failure in what he calls the ‘attention system’, and as a result they become frustrated and irritable. His team suggests that those for whom 12 is an important aim in life may have problems in coping with boredom, whereas those who have the characteristic of 13 can generally cope with it. READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs, A-I. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-E and G-I from the list of headings below.Write the correct number i-xi, in boxes 14-21 on your answer sheet. European Transport Systems 1990 - 2010 What have been the trends and what are the prospects for European transport systems? A It is difficult to conceive of vigorous economic growth without an efficient transport system. Although modern information technologies can reduce the demand for physical transport by facilitating teleworking and teleservices, the requirement for transport continues to increase. There are two key factors behind this trend. For passenger transport, the determining factor is the spectacular growth in car use. The number of cars on European Union (EU) roads saw an increase of three million cars each year from 1990 to 2010, and in the next decade, the EU will see a further substantial increase in its fleet.B As far as goods transport is concerned, growth is due to a large extent to changes in the European economy and its system of production. In the last 20 years, as internal frontiers have been abolished, the EU has moved from a ”stock” economy to a ”flow” economy. This phenomenon has been emphasised by the relocation of some industries, particularly those which are labour intensive, to reduce production costs, even though the production site is hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from the final assembly plant or away from users.C The strong economic growth expected in countries which are candidates for entry to the EU will also increase transport flows, in particular, road haulage traffic. In 1998, some of these countries already exported more than twice their 1990 volumes and imported more than five times their 1990 volumes. And although many candidate countries inherited a transport system which encourages rail, the distribution between modes has tipped sharply in favour of road transport since the 1990s. Between 1990 and 1998,road haulage increased by 19.4%, while during the same period rail haulage decreased by 43.5%, although – and this could benefit the enlarged EU – it is still on average at a much higher level than in existing member states.D However, a new imperative-sustainable development – offers an opportunity for adapting the EU's common transport policy. This objective, agreed by the Gothenburg European Council, has to be achieved by integrating environmental considerations into Community policies, and shifting the balance between modes of transport lies at the heart of its strategy. The ambitious objective can only be fully achieved by 2020, but proposed measures are nonetheless a first essential step towards a sustainable transport system which will ideally be in place in 30 years‟ time, that is by 2040.E In 1998, energy consumption in the transport sector was to blame for 28% of emissions of CO2,the leading greenhouse gas. According to the latest estimates, if nothing is done to reverse the traffic growth trend, CO2 emissions from transport can be expected to increase by around 50% to 1,113 billion tonnes by 2020,compared with the 739 billion tonnes recorded in 1990. Once again, road transport is the main culprit since it alone accounts for 84% of the CO2 emissions attributable to transport. Using alternative fuels and improving energy efficiency is thus both an ecological necessity and a technological challenge.F At the same time, greater efforts must be made to achieve a modal shift. Such a change cannot be achieved overnight, all the less so after over half a century of constant deterioration in favour of road. This has reached such a pitch that today rail freight services are facing marginalisation, with just 8% of market share, and with international goods trains struggling along at an average speed of 18km/h. Three possible options have emerged.G The first approach would consist of focusing on road transport solely through pricing. This option would not be accompanied by complementary measures in the other modes of transport. In the short term, it might curb the growth in road transport through the better loading ratio of goods vehicles and occupancy rates of passenger vehicles expected as a result of the increase in the price of transport. However, the lack of measures available to revitalise other modes of transport would make it impossible for more sustainable modes of transport to take up the baton.H The second approach also concentrates on road transport pricing but is accompanied by measures to increase the efficiency of the other modes (better quality of services, logistics, technology). However, this approach does not include investment in new infrastructure, nor does it guarantee better regional cohesion. It could help to achieve greater uncoupling than the first approach, but road transport would keep the lion‟s share of the market and continue to concentrate on saturated arteries, despite being the most polluting of the modes. It is therefore not enough to guarantee the necessary shift of the balance.I The third approach, which is not new, comprises a series of measures ranging from pricing to revitalising alternative modes of transport and targeting investment in the trans-European network. This integrated approach would allow the market shares of the other modes to return to their 1998 levels and thus make a shift of balance. It is far more ambitious than it looks, bearing in mind the historical imbalance in favour of roads for the last fifty years, but would achieve a marked break in the link between road transport growth and economic growth, without placing restrictions on the mobility of people and goods. Example: Answer:Paragraph F vii (The need to achieve transport rebalance) 14. Paragraph A Please select your answer i - A fresh and important long-term goal ii - Charging for roads and improving other transport methods iii - Changes affecting the distances goods may be transported iv - Taking all the steps necessary to change transport patterns v - The environmental costs of road transport vi - The escalating cost of rail transport viii - The rapid growth of private transport ix - Plans to develop major road networks x - Restricting road use through charging policies alone xi - Transport trends in countries awaiting EU admission 15. Paragraph B Please select your answer i - A fresh and important long-term goal ii - Charging for roads and improving other transport methods iii - Changes affecting the distances goods may be transported iv - Taking all the steps necessary to change transport patterns v - The environmental costs of road transport vi - The escalating cost of rail transport viii - The rapid growth of private transport ix - Plans to develop major road networks x - Restricting road use through charging policies alone xi - Transport trends in countries awaiting EU admission 16. Paragraph C Please select your answer i - A fresh and important long-term goal ii - Charging for roads and improving other transport methods iii - Changes affecting the distances goods may be transported iv - Taking all the steps necessary to change transport patterns v - The environmental costs of road transport vi - The escalating cost of rail transport viii - The rapid growth of private transport ix - Plans to develop major road networks x - Restricting road use through charging policies alone xi - Transport trends in countries awaiting EU admission 17. Paragraph D Please select your answer i - A fresh and important long-term goal ii - Charging for roads and improving other transport methods iii - Changes affecting the distances goods may be transported iv - Taking all the steps necessary to change transport patterns v - The environmental costs of road transport vi - The escalating cost of rail transport viii - The rapid growth of private transport ix - Plans to develop major road networks x - Restricting road use through charging policies alone xi - Transport trends in countries awaiting EU admission 18. Paragraph E Please select your answer i - A fresh and important long-term goal ii - Charging for roads and improving other transport methods iii - Changes affecting the distances goods may be transported iv - Taking all the steps necessary to change transport patterns v - The environmental costs of road transport vi - The escalating cost of rail transport viii - The rapid growth of private transport ix - Plans to develop major road networks x - Restricting road use through charging policies alone xi - Transport trends in countries awaiting EU admission 19. Paragraph G Please select your answer i - A fresh and important long-term goal ii - Charging for roads and improving other transport methods iii - Changes affecting the distances goods may be transported iv - Taking all the steps necessary to change transport patterns v - The environmental costs of road transport vi - The escalating cost of rail transport viii - The rapid growth of private transport ix - Plans to develop major road networks x - Restricting road use through charging policies alone xi - Transport trends in countries awaiting EU admission 20. Paragraph H Please select your answer i - A fresh and important long-term goal ii - Charging for roads and improving other transport methods iii - Changes affecting the distances goods may be transported iv - Taking all the steps necessary to change transport patterns v - The environmental costs of road transport vi - The escalating cost of rail transport viii - The rapid growth of private transport ix - Plans to develop major road networks x - Restricting road use through charging policies alone xi - Transport trends in countries awaiting EU admission 21. Paragraph I Please select your answer i - A fresh and important long-term goal ii - Charging for roads and improving other transport methods iii - Changes affecting the distances goods may be transported iv - Taking all the steps necessary to change transport patterns v - The environmental costs of road transport vi - The escalating cost of rail transport viii - The rapid growth of private transport ix - Plans to develop major road networks x - Restricting road use through charging policies alone xi - Transport trends in countries awaiting EU admission Questions 22-26 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?In boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet, choose TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this22. The need for transport is growing, despite technological developments. True False Not Given 23. To reduce production costs, some industries have been moved closer to their relevant consumers. True False Not Given 24. Cars are prohibitively expensive in some EU candidate countries. True False Not Given 25. The Gothenburg European Council was set up 30 years ago. True False Not Given 26. By the end of this decade, CO2 emissions from transport are predicted to reach 739 billion tonnes. True False Not Given READING PASSAGE 3 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below MUSEUMS OF FINE ART AND THEIR PUBLIC The fact that people go to the Louvre museum in Paris to see the original painting Mona Lisa when they can see a reproduction anywhere leads us to question some assumptions about the role of museums of fine art in today’s world.One of the most famous works of art in the world is Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Nearly everyone who goes to see the original will already be familiar with it from reproductions, but they accept that fine art is more rewardingly viewed in its original form.However, if Mona Lisa was a famous novel, few people would bother to go to a museum to read the writer’s actual manuscript rather than a printed reproduction. This might be explained by the fact that the novel has evolved precisely because of technological developments that made it possible to print out huge numbers of texts, whereas oil paintings have always been produced as unique objects. In addition, it could be argued that the practice of interpreting or ‘reading’ each medium follows different conventions. With novels, the reader attends mainly to the meaning of words rather than the way they are printed on the page, whereas the ‘reader’ of a painting must attend just as closely to the material form of marks and shapes in the picture as to any ideas they may signify.Yet it has always been possible to make very accurate facsimiles of pretty well any fine art work. The seven surviving versions of Mona Lisa bear witness to the fact that in the 16th century, artists seemed perfectly content to assign the reproduction of their creations to their workshop apprentices as regular ‘bread and butter’ work. And today the task of reproducing pictures is incomparably more simple and reliable, with reprographic techniques that allow the production of high-quality prints made exactly to the original scale, with faithful colour values, and even with duplication of the surface relief of the painting.But despite an implicit recognition that the spread of good reproductions can be culturally valuable, museums continue to promote the special status of original work. Unfortunately, this seems to place severe limitations on the kind of experience offered to visitors.One limitation is related to the way the museum presents its exhibits. As repositories of unique historical objects, art museums are often called ‘treasure houses’. We are reminded of this even before we view a collection by the presence of security guards, attendants, ropes and display cases to keep us away from the exhibits. In many cases, the architectural style of the building further reinforces that notion. In addition, a major collection like that of London’s National Gallery is housed in numerous rooms, each with dozens of works, any one of which is likely to be worth more than all the average visitor possesses. In a society that judges the personal status of the individual so much by their material worth, it is, therefore, difficult not to be impressed by one’s own relative ‘worthlessness’ in such an environment.Furthermore, consideration of the ‘value’ of the original work in its treasure house setting impresses upon the viewer that, since these works were originally produced, they have been assigned a huge monetary value by some person or institution more powerful than themselves. Evidently, nothing the viewer thinks about the work is going to alter that value, and so today’s viewer is deterred from trying to extend that spontaneous, immediate, self-reliant kind of reading which would originally have met the work.The visitor may then be struck by the strangeness of seeing such diverse paintings, drawings and sculptures brought together in an environment for which they were not originally created. This ‘displacement effect’ is further heightened by the sheer volume of exhibits. In the case of a major collection, there are probably more works on display than we could realistically view in weeks or even months.This is particularly distressing because time seems to be a vital factor in the appreciation of all art forms. A fundamental difference between paintings and other art forms is that there is no prescribed time over which a painting is viewed. By contrast, the audience encourages an opera or a play over a specific time, which is the duration of the performance. Similarly, novels and poems are read in a prescribed temporal sequence, whereas a picture has no clear place at which to start viewing, or at which to finish. Thus artworks themselves encourage us to view them superficially, without appreciating the richness of detail and labour that is involved.Consequently, the dominant critical approach becomes that of the art historian, a specialised academic approach devoted to ‘discovering the meaning’ of art within the cultural context of its time. This is in perfect harmony with the museum's function, since the approach is dedicated to seeking out and conserving ‘authentic’, original, readings of the exhibits. Again, this seems to put paid to that spontaneous, participators criticism which can be found in abundance in criticism of classic works of literature, but is absent from most art history.The displays of art museums serve as a warning of what critical practices can emerge when spontaneous criticism is suppressed. The museum public, like any other audience, experience art more rewardingly when given the confidence to express their views. If appropriate works of fine art could be rendered permanently accessible to the public by means of high-fidelity reproductions, as literature and music already are, the public may feel somewhat less in awe of them. Unfortunately, that may be too much to ask from those who seek to maintain and control the art establishment. Questions 27-31Complete the summary using the list of words, A-L, below.Write the correct letter, A-L, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet. A. institution B. mass production C. mechanical processes D. public E. paints F. artist G. size H. underlying ideas I. basic technology J. readers K. picture frames L. assistants The value attached to original works of art People go to art museums because they accept the value of seeing an original work of art. But they do not go to museums to read original manuscripts of novels, perhaps because the availability of novels has depended on 27 for so long, and also because with novels, the 28 are the most important thing. However, in historical times artists such as Leonardo were happy to instruct 29 to produce copies of their work and these days new methods of reproduction allow excellent replication of surface relief features as well as colour and 30 . It is regrettable that museums still promote the superiority of original works of art, since this may not be in the interests of the 31 . Questions 32-35 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write the correct letter in boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet32. The writer mentions London’s National Gallery to illustrate A. the undesirable cost to a nation of maintaining a huge collection of art. B. the conflict that may arise in society between financial and artistic values. C. the negative effect a museum can have on visitors’ opinions of themselves. D. the need to put individual well-being above large-scale artistic schemes. 33. The writer says that today, viewers may be unwilling to criticise a because A. they lack the knowledge needed to support an opinion. B. they fear it may have financial implications. C. they have no real concept of the work’s value. D. they feel their personal reaction is of no significance. 34. According to the writer, the ‘displacement effect’ on the visitor is caused by A. the variety of works on display and the way they are arranged. B. the impossibility of viewing particular works of art over a long period. C. the similar nature of the paintings and the lack of great works. D. the inappropriate nature of the individual works selected for exhibition. 35. The writer says that unlike other forms of art, a painting does not A. involve direct contact with an audience. B. require a specific location for a performance. C. need the involvement of other professionals. D. have a specific beginning or end. Questions 36-40 Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 199?In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, choose YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writerNO if the statement contradicts the views of the writerNOT GIVEN if the is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this36. Art history should focus on discovering the meaning of art using a range of media. Yes No Not Given 37. The approach of art historians conflicts with that of art museums. Yes No Not Given 38. People should be encouraged to give their opinions openly on works of art. Yes No Not Given 39. Reproductions of fine art should only be sold to the public if they are of high quality. Yes No Not Given 40. In the future, those with power are likely to encourage more people to enjoy art. Yes No Not Given 1 out of 1 thanh2021-11-25T19:34:21+07:00 Share This Story, Choose Your Platform! FacebookTwitterRedditLinkedInTumblrPinterestEmail About the Author: thanh Leave A Comment HủyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
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