Short Answer Questions Practice Exercise 1

Answer questions 1-8 which are based on the reading passage

below.

The Dingo - An Australian Pest Reading

Passage
The origins of the dingo are obscure, and there is much controversy
connected with this. It is not truly native to Australia but is thought
to have arrived between 3,500 and 4,000 years ago. Whatever its
origins, the dingo was a highly valued companion to the aborigines.
They were hunting companions, guard dogs, and they kept them
warm at night.

Some believe they were brought here on rafts or boats by the

ancestral aborigines. It has also been suggested that they came
with Indonesian or South-East Asian fishermen who visited the
northern coast of Australia.

The dingo can be found in all areas of Australia - from harsh deserts
to lush rainforest The highly adaptable dingo is found in every
habitat and every state of Australia,except Tasmania. In deserts,
access to drinking water determines where the animal can live.
Purebred dingo numbers in the wild are declining as man
encroaches deeper and deeper into wilderness areas, often
accompanied by his domestic dog.

The dingo is different from the modern dog in several ways: it does
not bark, it has a different gait, and its ears are always erect.
Dingoes are naturally lean, and they are usually cream to reddish-
yellow with white points, some are black with tan points. An adult
dingo stands more than 60cm high and weighs about 15kg. It is
slightly smaller than a German Shepherd.

In its natural state, the dingo lives either alone or in a small group,
unlike many other wild dog species which may form packs. Dingoes
have a clearly defined territory which they rarely leave and which
they protect from other dingoes, but which may be shared with
dingoes when they form a group to hunt larger prey. The size of the
home territory varies according to the food supply. Dingoes hunt
mainly at night. Groups are controlled by dominant male. Members
of a group maintain contact by marking rocks and trees within the
territory, and by howling, particularly in the breeding season.

The dingo's diet consists of native mammals, including kangaroos,

although domestic animals and some farm stock are also on the
menu. This makes the animal unpopular with farmers. The dingo is
thought to have contributed to the mainland extinction of the
thylacine through increased competition for food.

The dingo is an intelligent animal. It is no more dangerous to man

than any other feral dog. The natural prey of the dingo is small
mammals and ground-dwelling birds, but with the introduction of
white settlement, they became such a menace to sheep, calves and
poultry that measures had to be taken in an attempt to control
them, such as dog-proof fences.

Dingoes start breeding when they reach the age of one or two but
only the dominant members within an established group breed.
They breed only once a year. Mating usually occurs in autumn/early
winter, and after a gestation of nine weeks (same as domestic
dogs), a litter averaging 4-5 pups is born, which are reared in a
hollow log, a rock-shelter, or an old rabbit warren. Both parents take
 part in raising the pups. The pups are fully grown at seven months
of age. A dingo may live for up to ten years.

Wild dingoes are wary of humans and do not attack unless

provoked. They will approach camps in the bush looking for food or
perhaps out of curiosity. Dingoes can be kept as pets but should be
obtained at a very young age to enable them to bond with humans.
Even when raised from pups they never seem to lose their instinct
for killing poultry or small animals. Not all states in Australia allow
dingoes to be kept as pets and a permit is required. The export of
dingoes is illegal.

Dingoes and domestic dogs interbreed freely resulting in very few

pure-bred, southern or eastern Australia. This threatens the dingo's
ability to survive as a separate species. Public hostility is another
threat to the dingo. Because it takes some livestock, the dingo is
considered by many to be a pest.

Questions 1-8
Answer the questions below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for

each answer.

1. What factor decides where the dingo can live in a desert? Drinking
water
2. Which physical characteristic distinguishes a dingo from a
domesticated dog? Erect ears
What term refers to a group of wild dogs?

The Halifax Explosion Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the
location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the
regular font explains the answer in detail.)
1. Gasoline (or) benzol
Explanation: Paragraph 2 - ...the French vessel Mont Blanc left New York in
order a convoy in Halifax after being loaded with 226,797 kilograms of TNT
(an expl 223,188 kilograms of benzol (a type of gasoline), 1,602,519
kilograms of wet picric a ), and 544,311 kilograms of dry picric acid (another
explosive).

2. Belgium
Explanation: Paragraph 3 - At the same time, the cargoless Norwegian
ship, Imo, left Basin en route to New York to pick up relief items for
transport to war-torn Belgium.

New York is not the answer because it was a halt on the way to Belgium.

3. Hull
Explanation: Paragraph 3- At the last moment, the Mont Blanc veered, and
the Imo reversed, but it was too late. From the gash formed in the French
boat's hull seeped a noxious spiral of oily, orange-dappled smoke.

4. 1600
Explanation: Paragraph 4 - As many as 1,600 died instantly when the boat
exploded.
5. Hiroshima

Explanation: Paragraph 5 - The Halifax Explosion, as it became known, was

the largest manmade detonation to date, approximately one fifth the ferocity of
the bomb later dropped on Hiroshima.

In this question, 'Halifax" may seem to be the answer instantly. Although Halifax
is mentioned as what ".......was the largest manmade detonation to date.”, it is
compared to the bomb dropped later on Hiroshima. The intensity of the
Hiroshima explosion was five times that of Halifax and so the biggest explosion
“to date”. "To date” in the question is in reference to the present time.

6. Richmond
Explanation: Paragraph 5 - The blast absolutely flattened a district known
as Richmond.

7. (a) wave (or) (a) tsunami

Explanation: Paragraph 5 - It also caused a tsunami that saw a wave 18
metres high-water mark deposit the Imo onto the shore of the Dartmouth
side.

Vancouver Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the
location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the
regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. cubic office towers

Explanation: Paragraph 1 – Vancouver, like all large North American cities,
is a conglomerate of high-rise cubic office towers
 2. Marine Building
Explanation: Paragraph 1 – …the Marine Building at the north foot of
Burrard Street, once the tallest structure in the British Empire, the
courthouse at Howe & Robson,…

3. Real estate developer

Explanation: Paragraph 3 – … at the urging of a real estate
developer called Oppenheimer. He is now considered the father of Stanley
Park.

4. eliminate the causeway

Explanation: Paragraph 5 – One of the ultimate goals is to eliminate
the causeway leading to Lions Gate Bridge, but this will not likely occur
until well into the 21st century.

5. Polar Bear Swim

Explanation: Paragraph 6 – However, one of the biggest days on these
beaches is on New Year’s Day when the annual “Polar Bear
Swim” attracts several hundred die-hard individuals out to prove that
Vancouver is a year-round swimming destination.

6. dim sum
Explanation: Paragraph 7 – Chinatown is North America’s third largest, in
terms of area, … It is most active on Sundays when people head to any of a
wide selection of restaurants that offer dim sum

3.
4. What determines the vastness of the area occupied by the dingoes?
Which landscape features are used by the group to remain
connected?
5. Which landscape features are used by the group to remain
connected?
6. What animal might have been wiped out due to the dingo?
7. What has been made to protect the livestock from the dingoes?
8. What do many people regard the dingo as?

Short Answer Questions Practice

Exercise 2
Answer questions 1-7 which are based on the reading passage
below.

The Halifax Explosion Reading Passage

Before the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, the
largest-ever non-naturl explosion had taken place in 1917 in the
eastern Canadian port city of Halifax. With the outbreak of World
War I, Halifax was effectively transformed into a boomtown.
Convoys gathered weekly in Bedford Basin (the north-western end
of Halifax Harbour) to traverse the Atlantic, and Halifax Harbour
became heavy with vessels of one variety or another. This spike in
boat traffic was not dealt with efficiently, and collisions became
almost normal.
On December 1st, 1917, the French vessel Mont Blanc left New York
to join a convoy in Halifax after being loaded with 226,797 kilograms
of TNT (an explosive), 223,188 kilograms of benzol (a type of
gasoline), 1,602,519 kilograms of wet picric acid (an explosive), and
544,311 kilograms of dry picric acid (another explosive). On
December 6", the Mont Blanc was ushered into Halifax's harbour
after the U-boat nets had been raised.
At the same time, the cargoless Norwegian ship, Imo, left Bedford
Basin en route to New York in order to pick up relief items for
transport to war-torn Belgium. Imo was behind schedule and
attempting to remedy that. She passed a boat on the wrong side
before sending a tugboat retreating to port. By the time she reached
the Narrows, she was in the wrong channel and going too fast.
The Mont Blanc sounded her whistle, but the Imo sounded back
twice, refusing to alter course. At the last moment, the Mont Blanc
veered, and the Imo reversed, but it was too late. From the gash
formed in the French boat's hull seeped a noxious spiral of oily,
orange-dappled smoke. Mont Blanc's crew rowed to shore on the
Dartmouth side, but no one could decipher their warnings. Their
fiery vessel then casually drifted toward the Halifax side where it
came to rest against one of the piers.

This spectacle drew thousands of onlookers. People crowded docks

and windows filled with curious faces. As many as 1,600 died
instantly when the boat exploded. Around 9,000 were injured, 6,000
seriously so. Approximately 12,000 buildings were severely
damaged; virtually every building in town was damaged to some
extent; 1,630 were rendered nonexistent. Around 6,000 people were
made homeless, and 25,000 people (half the population) were left
without suitable housing.
The Halifax Explosion, as it became known, was the largest
manmade detonation to date, approximately one-fifth the ferocity of
the bomb later dropped on Hiroshima. It sent up a column of smoke
reckoned to be 7,000 metres in height. It was felt more than 480
kilometres away. It flung a ship gun barrel some 5.5 kilometres, and
part of an anchor, which weighed 517 kilograms, around 3
kilometres. The blast absolutely flattened a district known as
Richmond. It also caused a tsunami that saw a wave 18 metres
above the highwater mark deposit the Imo onto the shore of the
Dartmouth side. The pressure wave of air that was produced
snapped trees, bent iron rails, and grounded ships. That evening, a
blizzard commenced, and it would continue until the next day,
 leaving 40 centimetres of snow in its wake. Consequently, many of
those trapped within collapsed structures died of exposure.
Historians put the death toll of the Halifax Explosion at
approximately 2,000.
(Adapted from a passage in: A Sort of Homecoming – In Search of
Canada by Troy Parfitt)

Questions 1-7
Answer the questions below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from

the passage for each answer.

1. What cargo, apart from explosives, was the Mont Blanc carrying?
2. What was the final intended destination of the Imo?
3. What part of the Mont Blanc was damaged due to the collision?
4. What was the number of immediate fatalities due to the explosion?
5. Where has the most massive human-made explosion taken place to
date?
6. What place was entirely devastated by the explosion?
7. What threw the Imo off to the shore?

Short Answer Questions Practice

Exercise 3
Answer questions 1-6 which are based on the reading passage
below.

Vancouver Reading Passage

Vancouver is quite different from virtually any other city in North
America. Despite the fact it is a large modern cosmopolitan city, it
seems to have a relaxed, small-town, close-to-nature feel about it.
There is little comparison with other large Canadian cities such as
Toronto or Montreal, which are more akin to the large eastern US
centres like New York and Chicago. Vancouver, like all large North
American cities, is a conglomerate of high-rise cubic office towers,
although urban planners have kept the heights down. There are,
however, some notable exceptions such as the Marine Building at
the north foot of Burrard Street, once the tallest structure in the
British Empire, the courthouse at Howe & Robson, and the library at
Georgia & Hamilton.

Vancouver offers a wide range of attractions catering to all tastes

but those with only a day to spare cannot be better advised than to
take one of the many organised excursions recommended by the
Vancouver Tourist Office.

Stanley Park, a 1,000-acre nature preserve, is Vancouver’s best-

known landmark and a must for any visitor. It was established in
1887 and, in the opinion of many, is the most beautiful urban park in
the world. Contrary to popular belief, this park was not established
through the foresight of the city council of the day, but at the urging
of a real estate developer called Oppenheimer. He is now
considered the father of Stanley Park. All areas of the park are
accessible to the public except for Dead Man’s Island, which has a
small naval base.

The Eco Walk is a fun and informative way to see the park. The
guide gives information on the trees, plants, birds and animals as
well as on the rich aboriginal culture and legends of the park. The
walking is medium paced, taking 3 hours to complete and covering
5 miles of relatively flat paved and gravelled trails over the selected
seawall and forest paths. This walk is suitable for families, including
active seniors.
There is also a world-class aquarium in the park and was the first to
have killer whales in captivity and probably the first one to stop
making them into a side-show. The aquarium feels the purpose of
keeping the whales, namely re-educating the public and stopping
the hunting of them, has been accomplished. In 2000, the last
remaining killer whale at the aquarium was sold to Sealand in
California, where it died shortly after arriving. The main threat to the
park is the sheer volume of people who want to be in it. Efforts are
being made to restrict the amount of automobile traffic passing
through it. One of the ultimate goals is to eliminate the causeway
leading to Lions Gate Bridge, but this will not likely occur until well
into the 21st century.

Beaches are also a big attraction and temperatures are usually high
enough to tempt most people to have a swim. However, one of the
biggest days on these beaches is on New Year’s Day when the
annual “Polar Bear Swim” attracts several hundred die-hard
individuals out to prove that Vancouver is a year-round swimming
destination.

Chinatown is North America’s third largest, in terms of area, after

San Francisco and New York. It is steeped in history and is well
worth walking around. It is most active on Sundays when people
head to any of a wide selection of restaurants that offer dim sum.
Chinatown also contains the world’s thinnest building at only 1.8
metres wide.
 Questions 1-6
Answer the questions below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A

NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

1. What makes Vancouver similar to the big cities of North America?

2. What famous building was once the highest in the British Empire?
3. What was the profession of the park’s founding father?
4. What is one of the final aims of the park?
5. What event tries to encourage people to swim?
6. What can you eat in Chinatown?

The Halifax Explosion Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the
location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the
regular font explains the answer in detail.)
1. Gasoline (or) benzol
Explanation: Paragraph 2 - ...the French vessel Mont Blanc left New York in
order a convoy in Halifax after being loaded with 226,797 kilograms of TNT
(an expl 223,188 kilograms of benzol (a type of gasoline), 1,602,519
kilograms of wet picric a ), and 544,311 kilograms of dry picric acid (another
explosive).

2. Belgium
Explanation: Paragraph 3 - At the same time, the cargoless Norwegian
ship, Imo, left Basin en route to New York to pick up relief items for
transport to war-torn Belgium.

New York is not the answer because it was a halt on the way to Belgium.
3. Hull
Explanation: Paragraph 3- At the last moment, the Mont Blanc veered, and
the Imo reversed, but it was too late. From the gash formed in the French
boat's hull seeped a noxious spiral of oily, orange-dappled smoke.

4. 1600
Explanation: Paragraph 4 - As many as 1,600 died instantly when the boat
exploded.

5. Hiroshima

Explanation: Paragraph 5 - The Halifax Explosion, as it became known, was

the largest manmade detonation to date, approximately one fifth the ferocity of
the bomb later dropped on Hiroshima.

In this question, 'Halifax" may seem to be the answer instantly. Although Halifax
is mentioned as what ".......was the largest manmade detonation to date.”, it is
compared to the bomb dropped later on Hiroshima. The intensity of the
Hiroshima explosion was five times that of Halifax and so the biggest explosion
“to date”. "To date” in the question is in reference to the present time.

6. Richmond
Explanation: Paragraph 5 - The blast absolutely flattened a district known
as Richmond.

7. (a) wave (or) (a) tsunami

Explanation: Paragraph 5 - It also caused a tsunami that saw a wave 18
metres high-water mark deposit the Imo onto the shore of the Dartmouth
side.
Vancouver Reading Answers
(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the
location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the
regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. cubic office towers

Explanation: Paragraph 1 – Vancouver, like all large North American cities,
is a conglomerate of high-rise cubic office towers

2. Marine Building
Explanation: Paragraph 1 – …the Marine Building at the north foot of
Burrard Street, once the tallest structure in the British Empire, the
courthouse at Howe & Robson,…

3. Real estate developer

Explanation: Paragraph 3 – … at the urging of a real estate
developer called Oppenheimer. He is now considered the father of Stanley
Park.

4. eliminate the causeway

Explanation: Paragraph 5 – One of the ultimate goals is to eliminate
the causeway leading to Lions Gate Bridge, but this will not likely occur
until well into the 21st century.

5. Polar Bear Swim

Explanation: Paragraph 6 – However, one of the biggest days on these
beaches is on New Year’s Day when the annual “Polar Bear
Swim” attracts several hundred die-hard individuals out to prove that
Vancouver is a year-round swimming destination.
6. dim sum
Explanation: Paragraph 7 – Chinatown is North America’s third largest, in
terms of area, … It is most active on Sundays when people head to any of a
wide selection of restaurants that offer dim sum

Flow chart Completion Practice

Exercise 1
Answer questions 1-8 which are based on the reading passage
below.

Doll Restoration Reading Passage

This is a good example of how the average doll collector receives a
doll. They will find a beautiful antique doll that does not look as
beautiful as it should, but with proper restoration, she can be as
beautiful as the day she was created. Here, there are two main
problems, the eye mechanism has lost its original look, and it has a
loose head. We removed the mohair wig and removed the eye
system. Then we separated the head from the composition body
and chemically cleaned the head, removing old dirt, and wax, but
not harming the original artwork. We repaired the missing porcelain
teeth by making duplicate porcelain teeth to match and reinserted
them. Then we took the original eye system and reconditioned it.
We then did the waxing of the eye mechanism and reset the eyebar
so the eyebar would open and close as it originally did. What a
wonderful difference to chemically clean and restyle the original
mohair wig. Our seamstress took over point with suggestions from
the owner on likes and dislikes using original period designs. She
now looked, I'm sure, very much as she would have originally looked
when the little child fell in love with her for the first time.

Questions 1 - 8
Complete the flow chart below

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer

Check answer for this exercise

Flow chart Completion Practice
Exercise 2
Answer questions 1-4 which are based on the reading passage
below.

A Brief (and Tasty) History of Chocolate

Reading Passage
The first records that chronicle the manufacture and consumption of
chocolate originate from about 200-950 A.D., during the Classic
Period of Mayan culture Glyphs and ancient Vessels provide the first
evidence that the Theobroma cacao a tree that grows in the tropical
rainforest - was harvested for its cacao seeds. The Mayan culture
was spread over vast Mesoamerican territory, covering what is now
southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and part of El
Salvador.

Not only were cacao trees harvested in the wild, but Mayans also
grew the trees near their homes, in their own backyard gardens.
After the cacao pods were picked, the seeds found inside were
fermented and dried. The seeds would then be roasted over a fire,
followed by grinding between two large stones. The resulting paste
was mixed with water, chilli peppers, cornmeal and other
ingredients. This final concoction made the cacao paste Ginto a
spicy, frothy, and rather bitter drink. With sugar unknown to the
Mayans, if chocolate were sweetened at all, the sweetener would
have been honey or flower nectar.

The Mayan culture reached its zenith during the Classic period,
followed by centuries of (decline. By 1400, the Aztec empire
dominated much of the Mesoamerican landscape. The Aztecs not
only adopted the cacao seeds as a dietary staple but also as a form
of currency. (Cacao seeds were used to pay for items, and also
given as tribute by conquered peoples. While in the Mayan culture
many people could drink chocolate, at least occasionally, in Aztec
culture the chocolate was reserved mostly for royalty, priests, and
upper echelons of society. The priests would also present cacao
seeds as offerings to the gods, serving chocolate drinks during
sacred ceremonies, one reason for our calling chocolate the 'elixir of
the gods'.

During the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards in 1521, Europe

became aware of chocolate for the first time. Spaniards had
observed the Aztec royalty and priesthood making and drinking the
dark concoction, and quickly came to like it as well. Cacao seeds
were shipped back to Spain in bulk, where the paste was mixed with
spices like cinnamon and sugar, thus {taking the edge off their
bitterness. An expensive import, only the Spanish elite could afford
to purchase chocolate, and for the next 300 years, chocolate was
treated as a status symbol. Spain continued to import and
manufacture its chocolate in secret for at least a hundred years
before the rest of Europe caught wind of the delicious brew. Once
out, chocolate became one of the greatest fads to hit the continent.

Production of both cacao beans and sugar were labour-intensive and

time-consuming processes. To keep up with demand for both items,
many European countries set plantations in the New World for the
cultivation of these two crops. Wage labourers and slaves were used
to grow the crops, then process them, for export to and sale in
Europe.

It was not until the 1800s that mechanisation speeded up the

process of chocolate-making making chocolate cheaper, more
plentiful , and thus available to the public at large. With the advent
of the steam engine, cacao beans could be ground automatically.
Bakers and cheese seized the opportunity to work with this suddenly
available medium, establishing shops to the exclusive manufacture
of chocolate, especially in countries like Belgium, Switzerland,
Germany, and France. Lindt & Sprungli, of Switzerland, showed up in
1845, and Neuhaus Master Chocolate Makers, of Belgium, in 1857.

Different chocolate manufacturing processes were also invented

along the way. One of the three biggest processes to change the
way in which chocolate was made and consumed was the addition
of milk, instead of water, to chocolate. This idea, credited to Sir
Hans Sloane, further reduced cacao bitterness and improved taste.
Sir Sloane kept his discovery trade secret for some time before
selling the recipe to a London apothecary (which later on became
the property of the Cadbury brothers). Condensed and powdered
milk eventually replaced whole milk, allowing for a smoother and far
sweeter product than before; milk chocolate is by far the most
popular chocolate item in America today.

Another improvement in manufacturing came with the making of

liquid chocolate into semi-solid edible bars, allowing the item to
become much more portable and not as perishable (solid chocolate
has a shelf-life of about a year). The secret to bar-making comes
from cacao butter, the fatty part of the cacao bean. When the bean
is ground up, about 55% of the resulting paste is cacao butter. This
fat percentage, though seemingly high, is still too low to make soft
(and edible) bar chocolate, yet way too high for powdered chocolate
(such as is used to make hot chocolate). Heavy-duty presses are
used to remove about half of the cacao butter from the paste, after
which the purified butter is added into "untouched” raw paste,
making bar chocolate that is about 75% cacao butter, and semi-solid
at room temperature. The stripped paste, devoid of about half of its
fat content, solidifies into a hard cake that is pulverised into cacao
powder.

A third, and major, improvement in chocolate manufacturing came

with the discovery of the conching method - the mixing of chocolate
over a period of several days in order to allow volatiles and moisture
to evaporate, resulting in a more pleasing, smoother taste to the
final product. Conching is credited to Rudolph Lindt (of Lindt &
Sprungli fame), who found out that a batch of chocolate left mixing
for several days became much smoother in texture and taste than
allowed to solidify immediately.

Despite modern improvements to the processing of chocolate, the

actual harvesting of the cacao bean has remained virtually
unchanged since the days of the Mayans and Aztecs and is still
cultivated in tropical climates, within 10 to 20 degrees of the
Equator.

Questions 1 - 4
Complete the flow chart below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each
answer.

Harvesting and Consumption of Cacao in Mayan Culture

Check answer for this exercise

Flow chart Completion Practice

Exercise 3
Answer questions 1-7 which are based on the reading passage
below.

Liberating The GPS Reading Passage

On May 2, 2000, by the order of President Bill Clinton, the US
government discontinued the use of Selective Availability (SA)
making the Global Positioning System (GPS) more responsive
towards commercial and civil users worldwide. Selective Availability
was an intentional limitation of GPS signals implemented for
national security reasons. It limited the precision of GPS signals for
non-military users. The military reserved the highest quality signal
for their use, and deliberately blurred the signals for security
purposes. William Perry, US Secretary of Defence, proposed to
remove the restriction owing to the widespread growth of Global
Positioning System services and intended to improve civilian
accuracy. The government made the switch over at midnight of 1st
May 2000 and 2nd May was the first day when the non-military
system discovered an improved positioning precision from 330 to 66
feet. Thus, GPS became available for both military and peaceful
purposes. Gradually, the GPS became more accurate and cheaper.

The GPS project was introduced in 1973 by the US Department of

Defense for military purposes only. It became fully functional in
1993 with 24 satellites. It was allowed for civil use in the 1980s by
the then President Ronald Regan, however, during the 1990s, the
GPS quality was degraded by applying Selective Availability. In
September 2007, the US government decided to obtain the future
generation of GPS satellites (GPS III). These satellites are without
Selective Availability and this decision was taken to ensure reliability
in GPS performance which had been a concern to civil GPS users
globally.

GPS has become indispensable today. It is an embedded technology

in automobiles, personal computers, military munitions, weather
tracking systems, electronic receivers, and other technical products.
Started as a military project, it later emerged as an awareness
platform for a broader range of public and its further use has given
birth to other technologies which in turn benefited humanity.
Activities related to commerce, scientific purposes, surveillance and
tracking can be accurately done using GPS as it has turned into an
extensively deployed and useful tool. The online tracking system
determines the location of a person, and it also enables a person to
move from one place to another with guidance. The facility of
tracking is also done using the same so that one may get the
accurate location of the automobile being tracked. The system
created by the US defence has also made it possible to create a map
of the world as well as it brought precision of timings around the
globe.

Questions 1-7
Complete the flow chart below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from

the passage for each answer.
Test 1

Ahead of its Time

A chance discovery in New Zealand has challenged the country’s recorded history

One October afternoon, a young New Zealander, Sam Tobin, called his dogs and went
for a walk down to the nearby Ruamahanga River. Having been very high for days, the
river had at last fallen, and Tobin was eager to see what changes the floods had
brought. The family farm borders the river and a four-metre-high flood bank testifies to
its natural tendency to flood.

Tobin stepped out onto a broad shoulder of river sand, where he noticed what he
initially took to be a whitish rock, lit by the sun. Then, getting closer, he realised it was a
bone. Such a thing was not uncommon in these parts-he had often come across bone
fragments, or even whole skeletons, of cows and sheep. But as he scraped aside the
stones he realised it was a human bone, something quite new in his experience. As he
picked it up, he saw it was a skull, discoloured with age.

Tobin replaced the skull and hurried home to tell his mother what the river had delivered
to their doorstep. It would prove to be a spectacular find, setting in motion an
investigation by some of the country’s most respected specialists, and ultimately
challenging our most firmly held assertions about the human settlement of New
Zealand.

The police were immediately called, but despite a thorough search could find nothing
that might shed light on the identity of the Ruamahanga skull, or the circumstances of its
sudden appearance. The skull was then taken north to be examined by forensic
pathologist Dr Ferris, at Auckland Hospital. Despite being hampered by its damaged
and incomplete condition- the jawbone and lower left portion of the cranium were
missing- Dr Ferris determined that the skull was that of a female. He then consulted with
a colleague, Dr Koelmeyer, who believed that the deterioration of the bone placed the
time of death before living memory’ and, most significantly as it would turn out, the skull
appeared to be European in origin.

Wellington-based forensic anthropologist Dr Watt also examined the skull, and

suggested it belonged to a 40-45 year-old. He believed that it could be the remains of
an old farm burial, but was not certain, and proposed the use of radiocarbon dating to
make sure it wasn’t a recent death. As a result, the Institute of Geological and Nuclear
Sciences (GNS) in Lower Hutt was contacted, and provided with a sample of bone that
had originated in the top of the skull. In a little over three weeks the seemingly
astonishing results from the GNS laboratory came back. Cutting through the bewildering
complexity of the scientific analysis was a single line reading: conventional radiocarbon
age approximately 296 years. This was staggering, for the skull was about 200 years
older than Dr Koelmeyer had believed.

Of course, a skull of this age wasn’t particularly unusual in New Zealand. The Maori
people have been living in the country for at least 800 years and scientists frequently
come across human remains of considerable age. The fascinating question, however,
was how a skull of this race, let alone this gender, had reached these remote islands in
 the South Pacific at such a time, long before the arrival of the explorer Captain Cook in
1769, and perhaps even before the very first European landfall- the fleeting visit of the
Dutch explorer Tasman in 1642- neither of whom had women among their crews.

The first known European women in the Pacific came with a doomed colonising venture
which sailed from Peru in 1595 under the command of Spanish captain Mendana.
However, it is unlikely the Ruamahanga skull originated from this expedition because no
evidence of Mendana’s ships has ever been found in New Zealand, while a team of
archaeologists working in the Solomon Islands in 1970 did discover the remains of
European vessels dating from the 16th century.

Two centuries were to pass before the first recorded European females arrived in New
Zealand, both having escaped from prison in Australia. Kathleen Hagerty and Charlotte
Edgar are known to have reached the country in 1806. How do we account for the
Ruamahanga skull, which appears to be about 100 years older than that? It is
impossible to say with certainly, but the most likely explanation is that a Spanish or
Portuguese trading-hip was washed onto these wild shores as a result of a shipwreck
and a woman got ashore. Implausible, perhaps, but the Ruamahanga skull, today
resting in the Wellington Museum, could be the kind of concrete evidence that demands
such a re-evaluation of history.

Questions 5 – 9

Complete the flowchart below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from Passage for
each answer.

Write your answer in boxes 5-9 on your answer sheet.

The events after the river flooded

 Stage 1: Tobin found a human skull

 Stage 2: The 5 __________ were initially involved in trying to explain the
presence of the skull.
 Stage 3: Dr Ferris believed the skull belonged to a female
 Stage 4: Dr Koelmeyer suggested it was a 6 __________ skull
 Stage 5: Dr Watt recommended 7 __________ to establish the skull’s age.
 Stage 6: A bone 8__________ was sent to the GNS
 Stage 7: The age of the skull was about 9 __________ years

Click here for the flowchart completion answers on Ahead of its time!

Test 2

International Experience Canada

If you want to travel and work temporarily in Canada as part of International Experience
Canada (IEC), your first step is to become a candidate in one or more IEC pools. There
are three categories of pool: International Co-op (Internship), Working Holiday, and
Young Professionals.

To apply, first, use our questionnaire to see if you meet the criteria to get into the IEC
pools. This should take you about ten minutes. You can find it at www.cic.gc.ca/ctc-
vac/cometocanada.asp. After completing this, if you are eligible you will be sent a
personal reference code, which you should use to create your online account. At the
same time, you should fill in any remaining fields in your profile with the required
information, including which IEC pools you want to be in. (Some parts will already have
been completed for you.)

If you are sent an invitation to proceed with your application, you will have 10 days to
decide whether to accept this or not. If you accept, click the ‘Start Application’ button.
You then have 20 days to complete your application.

For the International Co-op and Young Professionals categories, your employer in
Canada must pay the compliance fee and inform you of your offer of employment
number. (This does not apply to the Working Holiday pool.)

Once you have received this, you should then upload copies of police and medical
certificates, if required. If you do not have these, you should upload proof that you have
applied for them. You should then pay your participation fee of C$126 online by credit
card. (There is an additional payment of C$100 if you are applying for the Working
Holiday category.)
Your application will then be assessed. You can apply to withdraw at this stage and will
be given a refund if you do this within 56 days. If your application is successful, you will
receive a letter of introduction which you can show to Immigration when you enter
Canada.

Questions 8-13

Complete the flowchart below.

Choose ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER ONLY from the text for each answer.

Applying to International Experience Canada

Fill in the online 8……………….. get a personal reference code.

Create your 9………………….. provide the necessary information for the profile in your
application.

If sent an invitation, you must accept this within 10……………

You then have a limited time to 11…………. the application.

Your 12……….. is required to send you an offer of employment number.

Upload copies of any necessary certificates or proof of application.

⬇
Make the payment for participation online. You may receive a 13……………………. ….
you change your mind.