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E Salesmen
Passage 2
A
If you took off your skin and laid it flat, it would cover an area of about twenty-one square feet, making it by far the body's largest organ. Draped in place over our bodies, skin forms the barrier between what's inside us and what's outside. It protects us from a multitude of external forces. It serves as an avenue to our most intimate physical and psychological selves.
B
This impervious yet permeable barrier, less than a millimetre thick in places, is composed of three layers. The outermost layer is the bloodless epidermis. The dermis includes collagen, elastin, and nerve endings. The innermost layer, subcutaneous fat, contains tissue that acts as an energy source, cushion and insulator for the body.
C
From these familiar characteristics of skin emerge the profound mysteries of touch, arguably our most essential source of sensory stimulation. We can live without seeing or hearing – in fact, without any of our other senses. But babies born without effective nerve connections between skin and brain can fail to thrive and may even die.
D
Laboratory experiments decades ago, now considered unethical and inhumane, kept baby monkeys from being touched by their mothers. It made no difference that the babies could see, hear and smell their mothers; without touching, the babies became apathetic, and failed to progress.
E
For humans, insufficient touching in early years can have lifelong results. "In touching cultures, adult aggression is low, whereas in cultures where touch is limited, adult aggression is high," writes Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institutes at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Studies of a variety of cultures show a correspondence between high rates of physical affection in childhood and low rates of adult physical violence.
F
While the effects of touching are easy to understand, the mechanics of it are less so. "Your skin has millions of nerve cells of various shapes at different depths," explains Stanley Bolanowski, a neuroscientist and associate director of the Institute for Sensory Research at Syracuse University. "When the nerve cells are stimulated, physical energy is transformed into energy used by the nervous system and passed from the skin to the spinal cord and brain. It's called transduction, and no one knows exactly how it takes place." Suffice it to say that the process involves the intricate, splitsecond operation of a complex system of signals between neurons in the skin and brain.
G
This is starting to sound very confusing until Bolanowski says: "In simple terms people perceive three basic things via skin: pressure, temperature, and pain." And then I'm sure he's wrong. "When I get wet, my skin feels wet," I protest. "Close your eyes and lean back," says Bolanowski.
H
Something cold and wet is on my forehead – so wet, in fact, that I wait for water to start dripping down my cheeks. "Open your eyes." Bolanowski says, showing me that the sensation comes from a chilled, but dry, metal cylinder. The combination of pressure and cold, he explains, is what makes my skin perceive wetness. He gives me a surgical glove to put on and has me put a finger in a glass of cold water. My finger feels wet, even though I have visual proof that it's not touching water. My skin, which seemed so reliable, has been deceiving me my entire life. When I shower or wash my hands, I now realize, my skin feels pressure and temperature. It's my brain that says I feel wet.
I
Perceptions of pressure, temperature and pain manifest themselves in many different ways. Gentle stimulation of pressure receptors can result in ticklishness; gentle stimulation of pain receptors, in itching. Both sensations arise from a neurological transmission, not from something that physically exists. Skin, I'm realizing, is under constant assault, both from within the body and from forces outside. Repairs occur with varying success.
J
Take the spot where I nicked myself with a knife while slicing fruit. I have a crusty scab surrounded by pink tissue about a quarter inch long on my right palm. Under the scab, epidermal cells are migrating into the wound to close it up. When the process is complete, the scab will fall off to reveal new epidermis. It's only been a few days, but my little self-repair is almost complete. Likewise, we recover quickly from slight burns. If you ever happen to touch a hot burner, just put your finger in cold water. The chances are you will have no blister, little pain and no scar. Severe burns, though, are a different matter.
Questions 14 - 17
The passage has 10 paragraphs A–J.Which paragraph contains the following information?
Answer the questions below by writing the correct letters, A-J, in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
1 the features of human skin, on and below the surface
2 an experiment in which the writer can see what is happening
3 advice on how you can avoid damage to the skin
4 cruel research methods used in the past
Questions 18 and 19
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write your answres in boxes 5 and 6 on your answer sheet.
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5
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How does a lack of affectionate touching affect children?
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A It makes them apathetic.
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B They are more likely to become violent adults.
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C They will be less aggressive when they grow up.
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D We do not really know.
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6
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After the ‘wetness’ experiments, the writer says that
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A his skin is not normal.
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B his skin was wet when it felt wet.
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C he knew why it felt wet when it was dry.
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D the experiments taught him nothing
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Questions 20–24
Complete each sentence with the correct ending A–I from the box below.Write the correct letter A–I in boxes 7–11 on your answer sheet.
7 Touch is unique among the five senses
8 A substance may feel wet
9 Something may tickle
10 The skin may itch
11 A small cut heals up quickly
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A because it is both cold and painful.
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B because the outer layer of the skin can mend itself.
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C because it can be extremely thin.
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D because there is light pressure on the skin.
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E because we do not need the others to survive.
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F because there is a good blood supply to the skin.
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G because of a small amount of pain.
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H because there is a low temperature and pressure.
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I because it is hurting a lot.
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J because all humans are capable of experiencing it
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Questions 25 - 27
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?In boxes 25 - 27 on your answer sheet, write
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TRUE
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if the statement agrees with the information
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FALSE
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if the statement contradicts the information
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NOT GIVEN
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if there is no information on this
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25 Even scientists have difficulty understanding how our sense of touch works.
26 The skin is more sensitive to pressure than to temperature or pain.
27 The human skin is always good at repairing itself.
Passage 3
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Investigating Children’s Language
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A
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For over 200 years, there has been an interest in the way children learn to speak and understand their first language. Scholars carried out several small-scale studies, especially towards the end of the 19th century, using data they recorded in parental diaries. But detailed, systematic investigation did not begin until the middle decades of the 20th century, when the tape recorder came into routine use. This made it possible to keep a permanent record of samples of child speech, so that analysts could listen repeatedly to obscure extracts, and thus produce a detailed and accurate description. Since then, the subject has attracted enormous multi-disciplinary interest, notably from linguists and psychologists, who have used a variety of observational and experimental techniques to study the process of language acquisition in depth.
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B
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Central to the success of this rapidly emerging field lies the ability of researchers to devise satisfactory methods for eliciting linguistic data from children. The problems that have to be faced are quite different from those encountered when working with adults. Many of the linguist’s routine techniques of enquiry cannot be used with children. It is not possible to carry out certain kinds of experiments, because aspects of children’s cognitive development – such as their ability to pay attention, or to remember instructions – may not be sufficiently advanced. Nor is it easy to get children to make systematic judgments about language, a task that is virtually impossible below the age of three. And anyone who has tried to obtain even the most basic kind of data – a tape recording of a representative sample of a child’s speech – knows how frustrating this can be. Some children, it seems, are innately programmed to switch off as soon as they notice a tape recorder being switched on.
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C
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Since the 1960s, however, several sophisticated recording techniques and experimental designs have been devised. Children can be observed and recorded through one-way-vision windows or using radio microphones, so that the effects of having an investigator in the same room as the child can be eliminated. Large-scale sampling programmes have been carried out, with children sometimes being recorded for several years. Particular attention has been paid to devising experimental techniques that fall well within a child’s intellectual level and social experience. Even pre-linguistic infants have been brought into the research: acoustic techniques are used to analyse their vocalisations, and their ability to perceive the world around them is monitored using special recording equipment. The result has been a growing body of reliable data on the stages of language acquisition from birth until puberty.
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D
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There is no single way of studying children’s language. Linguistics and psychology have each brought their own approach to the subject, and many variations have been introduced to cope with the variety of activities in which children engage, and the great age range that they present. Two main research paradigms are found.
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E
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One of these is known as ‘naturalistic sampling’. A sample of a child’s spontaneous use of language is recorded in familiar and comfortable surroundings. One of the best places to make the recording is in the child’s own home, but it is not always easy to maintain good acoustic quality, and the presence of the researcher or the recording equipment can be a distraction (especially if the proceedings are being filmed). Alternatively, the recording can be made in a research centre, where the child is allowed to play freely with toys while talking to parents or other children, and the observers and their equipment are unobtrusive.
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F
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A good quality, representative, naturalistic sample is generally considered an ideal datum for child language study. However, the method has several limitations. These samples are informative about speech production, but they give little guidance about children’s comprehension of what they hear around them. Moreover, samples cannot contain everything, and they can easily miss some important features of a child’s linguistic ability. They may also not provide enough instances of a developing feature to enable the analyst to make a decision about the way the child is learning. For such reasons, the description of samples of child speech has to be supplemented by other methods.
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G
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The other main approach is through experimentation, and the methods of experimental psychology have been widely applied to child language research. The investigator formulates a specific hypothesis about children’s ability to use or understand an aspect of language, and devises a relevant task for a group of subjects to undertake. A statistical analysis is made of the subjects’ behaviour, and the results provide evidence that supports or falsifies the original hypothesis.
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H
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Using this approach, as well as other methods of controlled observation, researchers have come up with many detailed findings about the production and comprehension of groups of children. However, it is not easy to generalise the findings of these studies. What may obtain in a carefully controlled setting may not apply in the rush of daily interaction. Different kinds of subjects, experimental situations, and statistical procedures may produce different results or interpretations. Experimental research is therefore a slow, painstaking business; it may take years before researchers are convinced that all variables have been considered and a finding is genuine.
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Questions 28 - 32
Reading Passage 3 has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraphs contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
28 the possibility of carrying out research on children before they start talking
29 the difficulties in deducing theories from systematic experiments
30 the differences between analysing children’s and adults’ language
31 the ability to record children without them seeing the researcher
32 the drawbacks of recording children in an environment they know
Questions 33-36
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet, write
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TRUE
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if the statement agrees with the information
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FALSE
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if the statement contradicts the information
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NOT GIVEN
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if there is no information on this
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33 In the 19th century, researchers studied their own children’s language.
34 Attempts to elicit very young children’s opinions about language are likely to fail.
35 Radio microphones are used because they enable researchers to communicate with a number of children in different rooms.
36 Many children enjoy the interaction with the researcher.
Question 37- 41Complete the summary below.Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 10-14 on your answer sheet.Ways of investigating children’s language
One method of carrying out research is to record children’s spontaneous language use. This can be done in their homes, where, however, it may be difficult to ensure that the recording is of acceptable 37 ..................... Another venue which is often used is a 38 ...................., where the researcher can avoid distracting the child. A drawback of this method is that it does not allow children to demonstrate their comprehension.An alternative approach is to use methodology from the field of 39 ..................... In this case, a number of children are asked to carry out a 40 ...................., and the results are subjected to a 40 .....................
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Answers:
1 - 5
1 - D
2 - B
3 - D
4 - D
5 - B
6 - D
7 - B
8 - C
9 - A
10-E
11-A
12-C
13-E
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