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2.
READING COMPREHENSION (25 minutes)

Read the texts carefully in order to answer the questions that follow them.
Mark the answers on your answer sheet.
I Vertical farming
When the Pasona Urban Farm opened in the high-rise of a Japanese IT company in
2010, it promised a future in which food was grown within feet of the people who would
consume it.
While the modern concept of vertical farming dates back to the 1990s, it could be
argued that this concept has been present for centuries as farmers have sought ways to
grow more using less space. Vertical farming in the modern sense is now spreading
rapidly. One example is the Japanese strawberry brand Oshii. In 2021, a box of
its famous Omakase strawberries retailed for $50 in a posh New York supermarket. For
some, this was evidence that with time vertical farming could rival and even exceed
traditional farming when it comes to quality. For others, the enormous price highlighted
the huge challenge to make vertical farms commercially acceptable. While the
technology shows much promise, monetary and energy costs are still high. This
means that high value crops which grow quickly, like tomatoes and strawberries, are
about the limit of what is currently available commercially.
But what if we could find a way to overcome these restrictions? Many vertical farms
are windowless and some are even built underground, which means they must supply
everything – from water to pest control. Vertical farms have increasingly been using
soilless systems in which water or water vapour is mixed with nutrients and circulated
directly around the roots of the plant. Because there's no organic matter, the plant has
nothing else to compete with or extract the water from, resulting in farms run on
considerably smaller amounts of water and fertilisers. The technology can also allow
crops to grow in unconventional locations, while the small amount of land use means
food can be grown amidst cities. Shorter supply chains could improve both food security
and the quality of food, since the faster food reaches us, the less its nutrients
deteriorate. It would also result in far fewer food miles than many imported alternatives.
There is no botanical reason why all our food couldn't be grown vertically, but plant
scientists will need to solve some long-standing problems before this is a reality. And, of
course, city planners, renewable energy providers and farmers themselves would all
have a huge part to play.
________________________________
1. According to the text, vertical farming

A. was first introduced in Japan in the 1990s.
B. is bound to replace all traditional forms of growing food.
C. can be said to have existed for hundreds of years.
D. is not a very popular concept in modern agriculture.
2. The famous Japanese strawberries are an example of

A. one of the few commercially accessible crops grown in vertical farms.
B. a highly popular brand which is exported only to the USA.
C. a crop which is of better quality than its traditionally grown counterpart.
D. a ridiculously expensive product no one would want to buy.
3. Soilless food production systems

A. are usually built underground.
B. generally consume fewer resources.
C. are more cost-efficient as no fertilisers are needed.
D. use huge amounts of water to distribute nutrients.
4. What is one of the main benefits of shorter supply chains?

A. Food can be grown in city centres.
B. Food can be grown in unconventional spaces.
C. The crops from unusual locations can easily reach their consumers.
D. The food that finally reaches the consumer is more nutritious.
5. In the conclusion, the author claims that
A. in the future all our food will be grown in vertical farms.
B. scientists will tackle all the challenges of food production.
C. botanists think vertical farming is the only form of food production.
D. different parties would have to be involved in vertical farming.
II The power of pen and paper
How long has it been since you last spent some time writing by hand? The process
of tracing out our thoughts on the page may soon become a thing of the past in our
screen-dominated world, where text messages have replaced handwritten letters and
sticky notes. To keep up, many schools are introducing computers as early as preschool,
meaning some kids might learn the basics of typing before writing by hand. But
disregarding this slower, more tactile way of expressing ourselves might come at a cost,
according to a growing body of research that reveals there are benefits to taking pen to
paper.
Important findings that support this were published in January 2023. Scientists in
Norway asked university students to write down individual words, first using a digital
pen on a touchscreen, and then using their fingers to type. During the entire process,
they measured the electrical activity in their brains. After a few weeks, they were able to
conclude that brain activity patterns were far more complex and widespread when the
participants wrote by hand, which confirmed the idea that handwriting activates the
brain in unique ways.
The researchers also compared data from previous studies which tested how well
biology students could remember information after listening to lectures and taking
notes. The review demonstrated that the students who took handwritten notes scored
significantly higher on tests about the material compared to the students who typed
them, regardless of how detailed their notes may have been.
However, you don’t have to be a student to benefit from handwriting. Earlier this
year, Japanese researchers compared subjects who recorded information on
appointments, meetings and deadlines using paper calendars and those who entered the
same information into their smartphone apps. When they tried to remember the
information later, the participants who had written in their calendars recalled it 25
percent faster than those who had typed it into a smartphone.
“Typing involves mechanical and repetitive movements that trade awareness for
speed and efficiency,” says neuroscientist Ken Thomas. Handwriting, on the other hand,
requires fine motor control over the fingers and forces us to pay attention to what we
are doing. “The point isn’t that one is better than the other, nor that handwriting can
magically give you exceptional memory. It’s just that it can help you concentrate and
therefore remember the things you’re focusing on.” Keep this in mind and consider
writing at times when you would normally reach for the keyboard – the outcomes may
surprise you.
__________________________________
6. According to the first paragraph, writing by hand

A. is unnecessary in the modern age.
B. requires more time than typing.
C. is a better way to express ourselves.
D. is no longer taught in some schools.
7. Norwegian researchers
A. supported students who wanted to write by hand.
B. gave two different tasks to two groups of students.
C. showed that typing engages the brain less than handwriting.
D. conducted their study in 2023.
8. Biology students who typed their notes
A. had a bad memory.
B. performed worse than the others.
C. failed their tests.
D. paid too much attention to detail.
9. In the Japanese study,

A. the subjects were asked to remember information about their schedules.
B. none of the participants were students.
C. some subjects made recordings of the information.
D. those who wrote by hand memorized the information 25 percent faster.
10. The final paragraph suggests that

A. people are often unaware of their surroundings while typing.
B. handwriting can improve your overall memory.
C. there are certain advantages to typing.
D. people use their keyboards surprisingly often.
3. LISTENING COMPREHENSION
You are going to listen to two recordings. You will have one minute to read
through the relevant set of questions and will hear a beep before each recording
begins. While you are listening, you can mark your answers on the question
sheet, but your final answers must be on the official answer sheet, which you will
have 5 minutes to complete when both recordings have finished. You will hear
each recording twice.
B. was documented by two scientists.
Recording 1 C. is a shocking discovery.
D. seems to be accelerating.
1. According to the author, dark
matter 4. According to some scientists,
A. consists of protons, neutrons and dark energy
electrons. A. is easier to define than dark
B. constitutes half of the universe. matter.
C. makes us 5 percent of the B. is a force surrounding the
universe. universe.
D. is still undetectable. C. is one of the fundamental forces
compared to a liquid.
2. The stars at the edge of a D. is a rather weak force.
spinning galaxy
A. travel faster than those near the 5. According to Einstein, a
galactic centre. cosmological constant
B. have approximately the same A. is a force that allows the universe
speed as those closer to the centre. to stay as it is.
C. are pulled only by the visible B. explains why the universe
matter at the centre. expands.
D. are more visible than those located C. is one of his biggest inventions.
near the centre. D. explains why dark energy exists.
3. According to scientific findings, Recording 2

the expansion of the universe
A. has slowed down.
6. According to Dr Steele’s A. the inability to focus
definition, people who B. a lack of energy
procrastinate C. inadequate working conditions
A. avoid boring tasks. D. worrying that they might fail
B. usually put off difficult tasks.
C. feel better when they avoid the 9. Dr Steele says that the best
work they should be doing. strategy for those who want to
D. eventually complete their tasks stop procrastinating is
before it’s too late. A. to limit distractions.
B. to take frequent breaks.
7. Which of these long-term goals C. to break down complex tasks into
does Dr Steele NOT mention? simpler ones.
A. earning a degree D. to tell others about their goals.
B. winning awards
C. getting fit 10. According to Dr Steele, the
D. losing weight most important benefit of
avoiding procrastination is
8. What does Dr Steele believe is A. building better relationships.
the real reason why people B. earning more money.
procrastinate? C. being happier.
D. being healthier.

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2.

READING COMPREHENSION (25 minutes)

1. According to the text, vertical farming

2. The famous Japanese strawberries are an example of

3. Soilless food production systems

4. What is one of the main benefits of shorter supply chains?

II The power of pen and paper

6. According to the first paragraph, writing by hand

9. In the Japanese study,

10. The final paragraph suggests that

3. According to scientific findings, Recording 2

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