Sample Tests

Interviewer: What medicines do you recommend?

Jeremy Bird: When you just have a cold, home remedies are probably best. You can inhale steam to clean your nose; if you have a dry cough, you can suck lozenges or sweets or chew gum.

Interviewer: Don?t they usually contain a lot of sugar?

Jeremy Bird: You mean, are they bad for your teeth? Yes, they are. Interviewer: Anything else?

Jeremy Bird: This one is obvious. Smokers should stop smoking, at least while they have the cold. Jeremy Bird is talking about a cure for the common cold. Interviewer: Aren?t researchers trying to find a cold vaccine?

Jeremy Bird: Yes, they are. However, it is very difficult to find a single vaccine for over 150 different viruses. Interviewer: What about making a cold last a shorter time? I?ve heard that vitamin C is good for cold. Jeremy Bird: Yes. There?ve been experiments which showed that Vitamin C helped people with colds, but they haven?t been able to confirm these results.

Interviewer: I thought zinc tablets were the latest idea.

Jeremy Bird: That?s right. Last year we heard a lot about zinc tablets stopping colds. However, there is very little evidence for this. Although there has been one trail in Texas which showed that zinc tablets might make a cold last a shorter time, a lot more research needs to be done.

Exercise

1. T 2.T 3.F 4.F 5.F 6.F 7.T 8.T 9.F 10.F

C Defining Age

When is someone old? Although the question sounds simple, definitions of aging and old age vary widely. In studying older people and individual aging processes, researchers need some marker of age.

One commonly used marker of old age is chronological age. Although often useful for making clear decisions about who to include as subjects in a study, chronological age can also be an arbitrary marker. For example, in the United States 65 is the age that is most often considered old, because that is when people have become eligible* for

full Social Security benefits and Medicare. The eligibility age for Social Security benefit will gradually rise to 67. Does this mean old age will then be viewed as beginning at 67? Anyone 50 or older can join the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the largest senior citizen organization in the United States. Why isn?t 50 considered old?

Chronological age also can be a poor indicator of old age, because some people may be “old” at 50, whereas others may seem “young” at 80.

Finally, the use of chronological age is problematic because it lumps together people of widely varying generations into a single category. A 65-year-old has as much in common with an 85-year-old in terms of interests and life experiences as the average 20-year-old has in common with a 40-year-old. Why should they both be considered old? Because of these problems, even when chronological age is used as a marker of old age, social geroniologists* often divide older people into three subcategories*. The young-old are people 65 to 74, the middle-old are those 75 to 84, and the oldest-old are those 85 or older.

Since chronological age may be an inappropriate indicator of old age for some types of research, social geroniologists sometimes define people as old according to the social roles they play.

Social roles are sets of expectations or guidelines for people who occupy given positions, such as widow, grandfather, or retiree.

Yet playing a role associated with a social position one typically assumes in old age doesn?t mean an individual is old. Some people work at jobs that allow them to retire after a certain number of years of employment. An autoworker, for example, can retire after 30 years. If a young person began working in a factory right out of high school at age 18, he or she would eligible to retire at 48. Military personnel can retire after 20 years. Widowhood is more likely to occur after age 60, but Jacqueline Kennedy was a widow at 33. The same is true of grandparenting. A woman who had a baby in her teens may become a grandparent in her 30s. But being a grandparent, regardless of one?s age, can make a person feel older.

Exercise

1. A 2. C 3. A 4. A 5. D 6.B 7. C 8. B

D

Dairy Goat Production

Goats have provided meat and milk for people longer than sheep or cows. More people use milk products from goats than from cows. There are more than 460 million goats in the world. They produce more than 4 million tons of milk and more than 1 million tons of meat every year.

Goats milk improves the diet of many families around the world. In addition, goats are friendly animals. They can be cared for by children.

There are several ways to help goats produce more and better milk. One way is to give goats high-protein plants like alfalfa*, groundnut* grasses, and vegetable leaves to eat. The covering of rice is also high in protein. Providing a special diet for goats s better than letting the animals find their own food all the time.

All goats should have covered shelters where they can escape the rain and extremely hot or cold weather. If the goat shelter has a metal roof, it should be painted white so that heat from the sun is reflected.

There should be plenty of fresh air inside the shelter. Goats with horns seem to survive better in the heat than goats without horns.

Goats enjoy exercises and need to move around. When goats are inside a shelter, there should be at least two-and-one-half square meters of space for each adult animal. When they are outside, a fenced-off area should allow about forty square meters for each animal. Fences should be about one-and-one-half meters to two meters high.

Make sure the wire fence is the right height for young goats. Some wire fences can be dangerous for young goats because their horns can become trapped.

Many of the same methods used to keep cows healthy can also be used with goats.

In fact, sometimes young cows cannot drink too much of their mother?s milk because they get sick. Instead, they are given goat?s milk to drink.

Exercise I

1. F 2. T 3. F 4. F 5. T

Exercise II

Ways to Help Goats Produce More and Better Milk 1. Give goats high-protein plants, such as alfalfa, groundnut grasses, vegetable leaves and the covering of rice. 2. Keep goats in covered shelters where they can escape the rain and extremely hot or cold weather. A. Have a metal roof that should be painted white. B. Have enough fresh air. 3. Leave enough space for each goat to move around Inside: two-and-one-half square meters. Outside: forty square meters. 4. Make sure the height of the fence is all right. Sample Test Two

Part 1 Complete the Following Dialogue

Howard: Hello? Benchley 291989. George: Is…is that you, Howard? Howard: Who’s that? George? Is that you?

George: Yes, Er… listen, Howard, I… I don?t know how to tell you this, I…er… Howard: What?s wrong? Has something happened?

George: Yes, I… I?m a bit shaken-up and I?ve… I?ve got a nasty cut on my forehead. I… I?ll pay for the damage, but…

Howard: What the devil are you talking about? (suddenly understanding) You… you’re not talking to tell me that something happened to the car, are you?

George: Just give me a chance to explain how it all happened.

Howard: How what happened, for God?s sake? You haven?t told me yet! George: You see, we skidded off the road and crashed into a fence, but…

Howard: Crashed? (Trying to control himself) Crashed? You mean, you’ve damage the car! I?ll…I’ll break your neck, you bloody maniac! You stupid, d…

George: Would you let me speak for a moment? I mean, just give me a chance, will you? Howard: I told you not to take any risks! George: I didn?t take any risk! And it wasn?t my fault!

Part 2 Listening and Note-taking

Lynda: …well I think that?s all right. Erm, how about another meeting next week? Ivor: Next week. Um … yuh.

Lynda: Erm … how about, how about Wednesday? Dick: Wednesday?s fine with me.

Ivor: No, sorry, no. I can?t manage Wednesday. I … I?m baby-sitting for a friend.

Can?t. I can?t change that. Sorry … erm — Thursday?s all right as far as I?m concerned.

Dick: E-r-m. sorry, Thursday I?m giving a talk to the, er, photographic club, erm, I, I really must go … there?s no,

no way out of it.

Lynda: Well-well, I?m visiting someone in hospital. I mean, I could change that, but Wed … Thursday?s no good

for you?

Dick: Not really, no, no. what about Wednesday? Wednesday?s no good, you say? Ivor: No, Wednesday?s no good for me, sorry. So that?s Wednesday and Thursday out. Dick: Thursday?

Lynda: Ah — no, no, erm, it?s my wedding anniversary and we?re going to the theatre, and I really can?t get out

of that one! No.

Ivor: Monday?s all right for me. Dick: Erm …

Lynda: How about you?

Dick: I?ve got my yoga class on Monday, but I suppose I could, er, I could miss it and go next week. It?s not that

important.

Lynda: Well, Monday looks possible. There isn?t any other day … Ivor: Monday?s er … erm, or er Friday, it?d be all right for me.

Lynda: Ah, well I?ve got a concert on, on, Friday. (Dick: That?s a pity). Yes (Dick: I?m free on Friday) …I?ve

already got the tickets …so…

Ivor: It looks like Monday then. Lynda: Mm? Monday OK? Dick: OK. (Lynda: Yes?) Monday.

Lynda: Sorry about the yoga class. Erm, OK, Monday. Erm, what time shall we make it? Same time as usual? Ivor: ?Bout, er, ?bout half past seven?