Read the Text Below and Answer the Questions That Follow It

Section A

Read the text below and answer the questions that follow it.

No Pilot, No Problem?

(1) Every year 17 million people in impoverished countries die before the age of five from infectious diseases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Medical treatment, vaccines, and proper care would save many lives, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to transport fragile medicines to remote, isolated areas. One of the problems in distributing vaccines in Third World nations is the maintenance of the “cold chain.” This term defines the facilities, refrigerators, electricity, and vehicles necessary to keep a vaccine below 35oC.If the vaccine rises above that temperature for a period of time, it spoils. Natural or man-made obstacles and non-existent infrastructure often cause significant delays in the delivery of these highly perishable commodities. WHO estimates that 60% of the vaccines intended for remote areas must be discarded as a result of exposure to a high temperature for an extended period. Even if the support equipment is available, storing and transporting vaccines is expensive: for every $1 spent on vaccines, another $14 is spent delivering the material.

(2) Traditional transportation modes, such as trucks or watercraft, can take a long time to reach distant villages. Manned aircraft, such as helicopters or small fixed-wing cargo planes, are uneconomical to operate considering the small payloads needed for these medicinal missions. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which are able to fly over many of the obstacles barring land movement, could significantly reduce the cost of transporting vaccines while reducing spoilage. Robotic drones[1] could bring health care resources to backwater areas cut off by natural disaster, war or inadequate transportation lines.

(3) The technology needed for this delivery system is already available, including avionics, radars, cameras, GPS-guidance systems and communications links. Only integration of existing equipment and software is required. Some of the existing UAVs have the range and payload to serve as cargo aircraft for humanitarian missions. Simple operator interfaces and low operating costs will be the chief requirements in selecting a specific UAV. A minimum footprint[2] to support the vehicle is essential.

(4) Here is how it would work. A canister with the medical supplies would be slung under the belly of a UAV. It would be aerodynamically shaped and hardened. The section carrying the precious vaccines would be protected with any of the lightweight insulating materials developed by NASA. The vaccines would be kept at the appropriate temperature for the duration of a four- to five-hour flight.

(5) Ideally, a small, fixed-wing UAV could use a dirt road as an unprepared runway. The UAV should not require launchers or retrieval equipment. Prior to launch, a technician enters the coordinates for the landing zone. The UAV uses GPS to navigate to the destination while the technician monitors the flight path. Once the UAV leaves the runway, the vehicle automatically flies to its destination. If the UAV encounters adverse weather, or if another aircraft crosses its flight path, the operator will maneuver the UAV to avoid disaster. However, operations in remote regions would lessen the chances for a mid-air collision.

(6)When the UAV arrives at its destination, a still image of the proposed drop zone, either an open field or a roadway, is transmitted to the ground station. As the UAV passes low over the field, an individual on the ground thumbs a small transmitter to command release of the UAV’s payload. The canister is released then, and a parachute deploys to slow down its descent. Safely on the ground, a recorded audio message offers instructions on how to open the container. Inside, the CD player provides medical instructions. The medical kit should be simple to use so that an individual with only rudimentary medical training can administer the vaccines.

(7)Civil UAVs have already been successful in Japan, where Yamaha has sold more than 2000 motorbike-sized pilotless helicopters used to inspect and spray paddy fields, and to monitor Japan’s active volcanoes. For safety reasons, these UAVs are not designed to fly further than 150 meters from their controllers, however, so that they do not interfere with air traffic. Because this requires only very short-range radio transmitters, they don’t need a dedicated radio band. Currently the major obstacle for other civilian UAVs to conquer the market is the failure of the aviation industry to obtain the radio frequencies it needs to control them, and it won’t even begin to lobby for space on the radio spectrum before 2011. This means that despite all the promises, the lack of radio frequencies to control the planes, and consequently serious concerns over their safety, might keep civilian UAVs grounded for years to come.

Section A, Comprehension

On the basis of the text, choose the most appropriate ending to each introductory statement. Transfer your answers to column A on the answer sheet.

1. According to paragraph 1, the rate of mortality caused by infectious diseases in the Third World

a. stems from poor sanitation.

b. could be reduced by more efficient delivery of vaccines.

c. has increased because appropriate vaccines do not exist.

d. exceeds that in developed countries due to higher birth rates.

e. requires development of new approaches to medical treatment and care.

2. As described in the reading, maintaining “the cold chain”

a. involves diverse expenses.

b. makes vaccine production prohibitively expensive.

c. requires that the temperature of vaccines should never drop below 35oC.

d. necessitates the loss of more than half of the vaccines sent to distant regions.

3. As compared to other modes, UAVs are more advantageous for transporting vaccines to remote areas because they are

a. independent of weather conditions.

b. supported by existing transportation lines.

c. equally efficient in carrying big and small payloads.

d. not hindered by natural or man-made obstacles on land.

e. better equipped for refrigerating cargo for extended periods of time.

4. For a specific UAV to be used for humanitarian missions, all the following factors will be taken into account EXCEPT one. Indicate which one:

a. The cost of running the vehicle should be low.

b. Training operators for using human-machine interface should be unnecessary.

c. The payload capacity of the craft should be sufficient to carry the specified

cargo.

d. Navigating, electric, and electronic equipment should be connected with the

appropriate software.

5. In order to use a UAV to carry medical supplies,

a. its fuselage has to be made of extra hard material.

b. an empty compartment should be left in it for a canister.

c. a specially designed container safely secured to the fuselage is needed.

d. the canister carrying medical supplies should be insulated from the drone’s

belly.

6. The technician in charge of the UAV’s flight would

a. check the suitability of a runway.

b. maneuver the vehicle throughout the flight.

c. call the mission off in case of adverse weather or natural disasters.

d. take upon himself remote guidance of the vehicle when there is a risk of

collision.

7. The reader can safely understand that a UAV’s landing

a. is fully programmed before the flight.

b. is facilitated by the use of a parachute.

c. is not needed for the delivery of medical supplies.

d. involves constant interaction between technicians in the points of departure and

landing.

8. As compared to the UAVs intended for humanitarian missions, Japanese civil UAVs

a. are used solely in high-risk zones.

b. were designed exclusively for profit.

c. pose a problem for air-traffic control.

d. are still at the stage of prototype testing.

e. have a much shorter range of autonomous flying.

9. The reader can conclude that the lack of radio bands dedicated to civilian UAVs

a. is a minor problem easy to resolve.

b. makes their use in the near future bleak.

c. results in severe competition in the aviation industry.

d. is the result of deliberate disregard by the aviation industry.

(9 x 3 = 27 points)

10. The word release, as it appears on line 40 means

a. free from obligation b. publicize c. allow to fall

11. The word administer, as it appears on line 44 means

a. direct b. dispense c. manage

12. The word they that appears on line 49 refers to

a. UAVs b. controllers c. transmitters d. safety reasons

(3 x 1 = 3points)

Total Section A is 30 points

Section B:

Choose the correct word in each set of parentheses in the passage so that the result is an idiomatic, grammatically correct text which makes good sense.

Transfer your answers to column B on the answer sheet

Sunspots Squeeze and Stretch the Day

Most of us don’t notice it, but not all days are the same length. Now it seems that sunspots—dark regions that emerge on the 1. (asun – bsun’s – csuns’) surface –may be responsible 2.(afor – bof – cin) the millisecond fluctuations in the time it takes Earth to rotate once on its own 3.(aaxis – baxes). This finding 4. (amust – bcould – cought) help steer spacecraft more accurately. There are 5. (aalready – bstill – cyet) explanations for why the exact length of a day varies. Changes in winds and ocean currents 6. ( acause – bare causing –ccaused) the Earth’s spin to slow down or speed up to compensate, preserving the planet’s total 7.( aangled - bangular – cangling) momentum. Meanwhile, shifts in how matter 8.( adistributes – bis distributed – cis being distributed) around the planet due to climate change may also 9.( aaffect – beffect) the speed of the spin. The latest association, between sunspots 10.( awhich – bthat – cwhose) abundance 11.(arises – braises – carouses) and falls on an 11-year “solar cycle”, and the Earth’s spin rate, is perhaps the most bizarre yet. 12.(aResearch – bResearches – cResearchers) have long observed that the spin rate fluctuates 13.(ain response to – bwith response from – cat response of) shifting wind patterns. Now, a team 14.( aleading – bled – cis led) by J-L. Mouël at the Paris Institute of Geophysics in France 15.( awas found – bhas found – chad found) that this seasonal effect also grows and shrinks in an 16. (a11- year - b11-years – c11 years’) cycle, rather 17.( aas – blike) sunspots. Seasons have a bigger effect on spin rate when sunspots are scarce and 18.( atheir – bthere) effect grows 19.( asmall – bsmaller – csmallest) when they are abundant, according to an analysis of 20.( adatum – bdata) from 1962 to 2009. The team suspects that 21. (a0[3] – ba –cthe) link between sunspot 22. (aabundance – babundant – cabounding)and spin rate is due to sunspots altering wind patterns on Earth. This might 23. (acause – bbe causing – cbe caused) by changes in the ultraviolet brightness of the sun. SinceUV light heats the stratosphere, sunspots could 24. (aplausible – bplausibly) alter wind patterns. The results of the study are intriguing but 25. (aa few – bfew) major pieces of the puzzle are still 26. (amissing – bmissed). If members of the team 27. (a will manage – b wouldmanage – cmanaged) to pin down where and when wind changes occur, it would be easier to prove that they 28. (aconnect – bare connecting - care connected) to the ultraviolet fluctuations. Filling in those pieces could pay dividends by 29. (aimprove – bimproving – cimproved) predictions of when and how the rotation rate will change. 30. (aThis – bThese) are important when using Earth-based radio dishes to trackspacecraft. (30 x 0.5 = 15 points)

Section, C- Read the text below and answer the questions that follow it.

Labour Market Trends

(1) “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing,” observed Theodore Roosevelt in a Labour Day speech on September 7, 1903. Today the billions of people the world over who seek that prize are encountering simultaneous feast and famine. Even in developed economies that are currently struggling, many people, perhaps more than ever, are doing the job of their dreams, taking home both a good salary and a sense of having done something worthwhile. Yet at the same time in much of the world unemployment is persistently high and many of the jobs on offer are badly paid, onerous and unsatisfying.

(2) In tough times young people are often the first to lose out. They are relatively inexperienced and low-skilled, and are easier to fire than their elders. This makes them obvious targets for employers seeking savings, though their low pay can redress things a little. Youth unemployment is rising perniciously across the developed world and in much of the OECD[4] youth-unemployment rates are about twice those for the population as a whole. On the one hand, the young often have parents to fall back on; they can stay at school longer; many have no families to support nor dire need of the medical insurance older workers may lose when they lose their jobs. On the other hand, there is a wealth of evidence to suggest that youth unemployment does lasting damage.

(3) Not only is the number of underemployed 15- to 24-year-olds in the OECD higher than at any time since the organisation began collecting data in 1976. The number of young people in the rich world who have given up looking for work is at a record high too. Poor growth, widespread austerity programmes and the winding up of job-creating stimulus measures threaten further unemployment overall. The young jobless often get a particular bounce in recoveries: first out, they are often also first back in. But the lack of a sharp upturn means such partial recompense has not been forthcoming this time round. In some countries a rigging of the labour market in favour of incumbents and against the young makes what new jobs there are inaccessible.

(4) Youth unemployment has direct costs in much the same way all unemployment does: increased benefit payments; lost income-tax revenues; wasted capacity. Some indirect costs of unemployment, though, seem to be amplified when the jobless are young. One is emigration: ambitious young people facing bleak prospects at home often seek opportunities elsewhere more readily than older people with dependent families. In Portugal, where the youth unemployment rate stands at 27%, some 40% of 18- to 30-year-olds say they would consider emigrating for employment reasons. In some countries, such as Italy, a constant brain-drain is one more depressing symptom of a stagnant economy.

(5) Then there are the effects on individuals. Young people are hit particularly hard by the economic and emotional effects of unemployment. The best predictor of future unemployment, research shows, is previous unemployment. In Britain a young person who spends just three months out of work before the age of 23 will on average spend an additional 1.3 months in unemployment between the ages of 28 and 33 compared with someone without the spell of youth joblessness. A second stint of joblessness makes things worse.

(6)Research from the United States and Britain has found that youth unemployment leaves a “wage scar” that can persist into middle age. The longer the period of unemployment, the bigger the effect. Take two men with the same education, literacy and numeracy scores, places of residence, parents’ education and IQ. If one of them spends a year unemployed before the age of 23, ten years later he can expect to earn 23% less than the other. For women the gap is 16%. The penalty persists, though it shrinks; at 42 it is 12% for women and 15% for men.

(7)The scarring effects are not necessarily restricted to the people who are actually unemployed. An American study shows that young people graduating from college and entering the labour market during the deep recessions of the early 1980s suffered long-term wage scarring. Graduates in unlucky cohorts suffer a wage decline of 6-7% for each percentage-point increase in the overall unemployment rate. The effect diminishes over time, but is still statistically significant 15 years later. After a period of unemployment, the temptation to take any work at all can be strong. Wage scarring is one of the reasons to think this has lasting effects, and policies designed to minimise youth unemployment may sometimes exacerbate them. Spain, which has developed a scheme for rolling over temporary contracts to provide at least some chances of employment to the young, should pay heed to the experience of Japan in the early 2000s. Young people unemployed for a long time were channelled into “non-regular” jobs where pay was low and opportunities for training and career progression few. Employers seeking new recruits for quality jobs generally preferred fresh school or university graduates over the unemployed or underemployed, leaving a cohort of people with declining long-term job and wage prospects. Japan’s “lost decade” workers make up a disproportionate share of depression and stress cases reported by employers.

(8) The emphasis in some countries tends to be on “skilling up” young people. This, however, is not a panacea. American graduate schools have received at least 20% more applications since 2008. But as they build up debts, not all these students will be improving their job prospects. Having a university degree still increases the chances of employment, but joblessness among college graduates in America is the highest it has been since 1970. In addition, there is a mismatch between the skills demanded by employers and those available in the market. This reflects both bad choices by students, who have not thought hard enough about what will help them find a good job, and of education systems often indifferent to the needs of the labor market and too slow to adjust even if they try.