Mock Test – Reading Practice Test 06

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Education Philosophy

A

Although we lack accurate statistics about child mortality in the pre-industrial period, we do have evidence that in the 1660s, the mortality rate for children who died within 14 days of birth was as much as 30 per cent. Nearly all families suffered some premature death. Since all parents expected to bury some of their children, they found it difficult to invest in their newborn children. Moreover, to protect themselves from the emotional consequences of children’s death, parents avoided making any emotional commitment to an infant. It is no wonder that we find mothers leave their babies in gutters or refer to the death in the same paragraph with reference to pickles.

B

The 18th century witnessed the transformation from an agrarian economy to an industrial one, one of the vital social changes taking place in the Western world. An increasing number of people moved from their villages and small towns to big cities where life was quite different. Social supports which had previously existed in smaller communities were replaced by ruthless problems such as poverty, crime, substandard housing and disease. Due to the need for additional income to support the family, young children from the poorest families were forced into early employment and thus their childhood became painfully short. Children as young as 7 might be required to work full-time, subjected to unpleasant and unhealthy circumstances, from factories to prostitution. Although such a role has disappeared in most wealthy countries, the practice of childhood employment still remains a staple in underdeveloped countries and rarely disappeared entirely.

C

The lives of children underwent a drastic change during the 1800s in the United States. Previously, children from both rural and urban families were expected to participate in everyday labour due to the bulk of manual hard working. Nevertheless, thanks to the technological advances of the mid-1800s, coupled with the rise of the middle class and redefinition of roles of family members, work and home became less synonymous over time. People began to purchase toys and books for their children. When the country depended more upon machines, children in rural and urban areas, were less likely to be required to work at home. Beginning from the Industrial Revolution and rising slowly over the course of the 19th century, this trend increased exponentially after civil war. John Locke, one of the most influential writers of his period, created the first clear and comprehensive statement of the ‘environmental position’ that family education determines a child’s life, and via this, he became the father of modem learning theory. During the colonial period, his teachings about child care gained a lot of recognition in America.

D

According to Jean Jacques Rousseau, who lived in an era of the American and French Revolution, people were ‘noble savages’ in the original state of nature, meaning they are innocent, free and uncorrupted. In 1762, Rousseau wrote a famous novel Emile to convey his educational philosophy through a story of a boy’s education from infancy to adult-hood. This work was based on his extensive observation of children and adolescents, their individuality, his developmental theory and on the memories of his own childhood. He contrasts children with adults and describes their age-specific characteristics in terms of historical perspective and developmental psychology. Johan Heinrich Pestalozzi, living during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, sought to develop schools to nurture children’s all-round development. He agreed with Rousseau that humans are naturally good but were spoiled by a corrupt society. His approach to teaching consists of the general and special methods, and his theory was based upon establishing an emotionally healthy homelike learning environment, which had to be in place before more specific instructions occurred.

E

One of the best-documented cases of Pestalozzi’s theory concerned a so-called feral child named Victor, who was captured in a small town in the south of France in 1800. Prepubescent, mute, naked, and perhaps 11 or 12 years old, Victor had been seen foraging for food in the gardens of the locals in the area and sometimes accepted people’s direct offers of food before his final capture. Eventually, he was brought to Paris and expected to answer some profound questions about the nature of human, but that goal was quashed very soon. A young physician Jean Marc Gaspard Itard was optimistic about the future of Victor and initiated a five-year education plan to civilise him and teach him to speak. With a subsidy from the government, Itard recruited a local woman Madame Guerin to assist him to provide a semblance of a home for Victor, and he spent an enormous amount of time and effort working with Victor. Itard’s goal to teach Victor the basics of speech could never be fully achieved, but Victor had learnt some elementary forms of communication.

F

Although other educators were beginning to recognise the simple truth embedded in Rousseau’s philosophy, it is not enough to identify the stages of children’s development alone. There must be certain education which had to be geared towards those stages. One of the early examples was the invention of kindergarten, which was a word and a movement created by a German-born educator, Friedrich Froebel in 1840. Froebel placed a high value on the importance of play in children’s learning. His invention would spread around the world eventually in a verity of forms. Froebel’s ideas were inspired through his cooperation with Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Froebel didn’t introduce the notion of kindergarten until 58 years old, and he had been a teacher for four decades. The notion was a haven and a preparation for children who were about to enter the regimented educational system. The use of guided or structured play was a cornerstone of his kindergarten education because he believed that play was the most significant aspect of development at this time of life. Play served as a mechanism for a child to grow emotionally and to achieve a sense of self-worth. Meanwhile, teachers served to organise materials and a structured environment in which each child, as an individual, could achieve these goals. When Froebel died in 1852, dozens of kindergartens had been created in Germany. Kindergartens began to increase in Europe, and the movement eventually reached and flourished in the United States in the 20th century.

Questions 1-4

Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A and C-E from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-vii, in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i           The inheritance and development of educational concepts of different thinkers
ii          Why children had to work to alleviate the burden on family
iii         Why children are not highly valued
iv         The explanation for children dying in hospital at their early age
v          The first appearance of modem educational philosophy
vi         The application of a creative learning method on a wild kid
vii        The emergence and spread of the notion of kindergarten

1    Paragraph A

      Example           Answer
      Paragraph B     ii

2    Paragraph C

3   Paragraph D

4   Paragraph E

Questions 5-8

Look at the following events (Questions 5-8) and the list of dates below.
Match each event with the correct date, A, B or C.
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 5-8 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

List of Dates

A          the 18th century (1700-1799)
B          the 19th century (1800-1899)
C          the 20th century (1900-1999)

5   the need for children to work

6   the rise of the middle class

7   the emergence of a kindergarten

8   the spread of kindergartens around the U.S.

Questions 9-13

Look at the following opinions or deeds (Questions 9-13) and the list of people below.
Match each opinion or deed with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

List of People

A          Jean Jacques Rousseau
B          Johan Heinrich Pestalozzi
C          Jean Marc Gaspard Itard
D          Friedrich Froebel

9     was not successful to prove the theory

10   observed a child’s record

11   requested a study setting with emotional comfort firstly

12   proposed that corruption was not a characteristic in people’s nature

13   was responsible for an increase in the number of a type of school

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-27 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. 

The start of the automobile’s history went all the way back to 1769 when automobiles running on the steam engine were invented as carriers for human transport. In 1806, the first batch of cars powered by an internal combustion engine came into being, which pioneered the introduction of the widespread modem petrol-fueled internal combustion engine in 1885.

It is generally acknowledged that the first practical automobiles equipped with petrol/gaso-line-powered internal combustion engines were invented almost at the same time by different German inventors who were Working on their own. Karl Benz first built the automobile in 1885 in Mannheim. Benz attained a patent for his invention on 29 January 1886, and in 1888, he started to produce automobiles in a company that later became the renowned Mercedes-Benz.

As this century began, the automobile industry marched into the transportation market for the wealth. Drivers at that time were an adventurous bunch; they would go out regardless of the weather condition even if they weren’t even protected by an enclosed body or a convertible top. Everybody in the community knew who owned what car, and cars immediately became a symbol of identity and status. Later, cars became more popular among the public since it allowed people to travel whenever and wherever they wanted. Thus, the price of automobiles in Europe and North America kept dropping, and more people from the middle class could afford them. This was especially attributed to Henry Ford who did two crucial things. First, he set the price as reasonable as possible for his cars; second, he paid his employees enough salaries so that they could afford the cars made by their very own hands.

The trend of interchangeable parts and mass production in an assembly line style had been led by America, and from 1914, this concept was significantly reinforced by Henry Ford. This large-scale, production-line manufacture of affordable automobiles was debuted. A Ford car would come off all assembled from the line every 15 minutes, an interval shorter than any of the former methods. Not only did it raise productivity, but also cut down on the requirement for manpower. Ford significantly lowered the chance of injury by carrying out complicated safety procedures in production—particularly assigning workers to specific locations rather than giving them the freedom to wander around. This mixture of high wages and high efficiency was known as Fordism, which provided a valuable lesson for most major industries.

The first Jeep automobile that came out as the prototype Bantam BRC was the primary light 4-wheel-drive automobile of the U.S. Army and Allies, and during World War II and the postwar period, its sale skyrocketed. Since then, plenty of Jeep derivatives with similar military and civilian functions have been created and kept upgraded in terms of overall performance in other nations.

Through all the 1950s, engine power and automobile rates grew higher, designs evolved into a more integrated and artful form, and cars were spreading globally. In the 1960s, the landscape changed as Detroit was confronted with foreign competition. The European manufacturers, used the latest technology, and Japan came into the picture as a dedicated car-making country. General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford dabbled with radical tiny cars such as the GM A-bodies with little success. As joint ventures such as the British Motor Corporation unified the market, captive imports and badge imports swept all over the US and the UK. BMC first launched a revolutionary space-friendly Mini in 1959, which turned out to harvest large global sales. Previously remaining under the Austin and Morris names, Mini later became an individual marque in 1969. The trend of corporate consolidation landed in Italy when niche makers such as Maserati, Ferrari, and Lancia were bought by larger enterprises. By the end of the 20th century, there had been a sharp fall in the number of automobile marques.

In the US, car performance dominated marketing, justified by the typical cases of pony cars and muscle cars. However, in the 1970s, everything changed as the American automobile industry suffered from the 1973 oil crisis, competition with Japanese and European imports, automobile emission-control regulations* and moribund innovation. The irony in all this was that full-size sedans such as Cadillac and Lincoln scored a huge comeback between the years of economic crisis.

In terms of technology, the most mentionable developments that postwar era had seen were the widespread use of independent suspensions, broader application of fuel injection, and a growing emphasis on safety in automobile design. Mazda achieved many triumphs with its engine firstly installed in the fore-wheel, though it gained itself a reputation as a gas-guzzler.

The modem era also has witnessed a sharp elevation of fuel power in the modem engine management system with the. help of the computer. Nowadays, most automobiles in use are powered by an internal combustion engine, fueled by gasoline or diesel. Toxic gas from both fuels is known to pollute the air and is responsible for climate change as well as global warming.

Questions 14-19

Look at the following descriptions (Questions 14-19) and the list of automobile brands below.
Match each description with the correct automobile brand, A-G.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

List of Automobile Brands

A          Ford
B          the BMC Mini
C          Cadillac and Lincoln
D          Mercedes Benz
E          Mazda
F          Jeep
G         Maserati, Ferrari, and Lancia

14   began producing the first automobiles

15   produced the industrialised cars that common consumers could afford

16   improved the utilisation rate of automobile space

17   upgraded the overall performance of the car continuously

18   maintained leading growth even during an economic recession

19   installed its engine on the front wheel for the first time

Questions 20-26

Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 20-26 on your answer sheet.

20   What is the important feature owned by the modem engine since the 19th century?

21   What did a car symbolise to the rich at the very beginning of this century?

22   How long did Ford assembly line take to produce a car?

23   What is the major historical event that led American cars to suffer when competing with Japanese imported cars?

24   What do people call the Mazda car which was designed under the front-wheel engine?

25   What has greatly increased with the computerised engine management systems in modem society?

26   What factor is blamed for contributing to pollution, climate change and global warming?

Question 27

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in box 27 on your answer sheet.

27   What is the main idea of the passage?

A The influence of the cars on the environment

B The historical development and innovation in car designs

C The beginning of the modem designed gasoline engines

D The history of human and the Auto industry

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Company Innovation

A

In a shabby office in downtown Manhattan, a group of 30 AI (artificial intelligence) programmers from Umagic are attempting to mimic the brains of a famous sexologist, a celebrated dietitian, a popular fitness coach and a bunch of other specialists, Umagic Systems is an up-and-coming firm, which sets up websites that enable their clients to seek advice from the virtual versions of those figures. The users put in all the information regarding themselves and their objectives; then it’s Umagic’s job to give advice, that a star expert would give. Even though the neuroses of American consumers have always been a marketing focus, the future of Umagic is difficult to predict (who knows what it’ll be like in ten years? Asking a computer about your sex life might be either normal or crazy). However, companies such, as Umagic1 are starting .to intimidate major American firms, because these young companies regard the half-crazy ‘creative’ ideas as the portal lo their triumph m the future.

B

Innovation has established itself as the catchword of American business management Enterprises have realised that they are running out of things that can be outsourced or re-engineered (worryingly, by their competitors too) Winners of today’s American business tend to be companies with innovative powers such as Dell, Amazon and Wal-Mart, which have come up with concepts or goods that have reshaped their industries.

C

According to a new book by two consultants from Arthur D. Little, during the last 15 years, the top 20% of firms in Fortune magazine’s annual innovation survey have attained twice as much the shareholder returns as their peers. The desperate search for new ideas is the hormone for a large part of today’s merger boom. The same goes for the money spent on licensing and purchasing others’ intellectual property. Based on the statistics from Pasadena-based Patent & Licence Exchange, trade volume in intangible assets in America has gone up from $15 billion in 1990 to $100 billion in 1998, with small firms and individuals taking up an increasing share of the rewards.   

D

And that terrifies big companies: it appears that innovation works incompatible with them. Some major famous companies that are always known for ‘innovative ideas’, such as 3M, Procter & Gamble, and Rubbermaid, have recently had dry spells. Peter Chernin, who runs the Fox TV and film empire for News Corporation, points out that ‘In the management of creativity, size is your enemy.’ It’s impossible for someone who’s managing 20 movies to be as involved as someone doing 5. Therefore, he has tried to divide the studio into smaller parts, disregarding the risk of higher expenses.

E

Nowadays, ideas are more likely to prosper outside big companies. In the old days, when a brilliant scientist came up with an idea and wanted to make money out of it, he would take it to a big company first. But now, with all these cheap venture capital around, he would probably want to commercialise it by himself. So far, Umagic has already raised $5m and is on its way to another $25m. Even in the case of capital-intensive businesses like pharmaceuticals, entrepreneurs have the option to conduct early-stage research and sell out to the big firms when they’re faced with costly, risky clinical trials. Approximately 1/3 of drug firms’ total revenue is now from licensed-in technology.

F

Some of the major enterprises such as General Electric and Cisco have been impressively triumphant when it comes to snatching and incorporating small companies’ scores. However, other grants are concerned about the money they have to spend and the way to keep those geniuses who generated the idea. It is the dream of everyone to develop more ideas within their organisations Procter & Gamble is currently switching their entire business focus from countries to products; one of the goals is to get the whole company to accept the innovations. In other places, the craving for innovation has caused a frenzy lor intrapreneurship’ transferring power and establishing internal idea-workshops and tracking inventory so that the talents will stay.

G

Some people don’t believe that this kind of restructuring is sufficient. Clayton Christensen argues in new book that big firms’ many advantages, such as taking care of their existing customers, can get in the way of innovative behaviour that is necessary for handling disruptive technologies That’s why there’s been the trend of cannibalisation, which brings about businesses that will confront and jeopardise the existing ones. For example, Bank One has set up Wingspan, which is an online bank that in fact compete, with its actual branches.

H

There’s no denying that innovation is a big deal. However, do major firms have to be this pessimistic? According to a recent survey of the to 50 innovations in America by Industry Week, ide as are equally likely to come from both big and small companies. Big companies can adopt new ideas when they are mature enough and the risks and rewards have become more quantifiable.

Questions 28-33

Reading Passage 3 has nine paragraphs, A-I.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 28-33 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

28   an approach to retain the best employees

29   safeguarding expenses on innovative ideas

30   a certain counter-effect produced by integrating outside firms

31   an example of three famous American companies’ innovation

32   an example of one company changing its focus

33   an example of a company resolving financial difficulties itself

Questions 34-37

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 34-37 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE               if the statement is true

FALSE              if the statement is false

NOT GIVEN    if the information is not given in the passage

34   Umagic is the most successful innovative company in this new field.

35   Amazon and Wal-Mart exchanged their innovation experience.

36   New ideas’ holders had already been known to take it to small companies in the past.

37   IBM failed to understand Umagic’s proposal of a new idea.

Questions 38-40

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

38   What is the author’s opinion on innovation in paragraph C?

A  It only works for big companies.

B  Fortune magazine has a globally huge influence.

C  It is becoming increasingly important.

D  Its effects on American companies are more evident.

39   What is Peter Chernin’s point of view on innovation?

A  Small companies are more innovative than big ones.

B  Film industry needs more innovation than other industries.

C  We need to cut the cost when risks occur.

D  New ideas are more likely going to big companies.

40   What is the author’s opinion on innovation at the end of this passage?

A  Umagic success lies on the accidental ‘virtual expert’.

B  Innovation is easy and straightforward.

C  IBM sets a good example on innovation.

D  The author’s attitude is uncertain on innovation.

Answer Reading Test 06