Public art

What is public art? If asked to (0)…….. a piece, many of us would call to mind a statue of a rather stern-looking military man or a past ruler. But public art in cities shouldn’t just celebrate the past. It should (1)…….. something about contemporary society and add (2).…….. to our cityscape.

Contemporary public art can be abstract, realistic or even a performance; there appears to be no (3).…….. on what artists can create, so is it any (4).…….. then that it can often cause controversy? Some people take (5).…….. a piece because they don’t understand the artist’s intentions while others enjoy the challenge of interacting with something new.

To a (6).…….. degree, every piece of public art is an interactive (7).…….. involving artist and community. Placed in public sites, it’s there for all to see and to react to. It can transform our environment, heighten our awareness and question our assumptions. What it shouldn’t do is
merge into the (8).…….. and become something that people can pass by without comment as they go about their daily lives.

Extreme sports

People who are (0)…….. extreme sports love the idea of a challenge. For some, it’s escaping the monotony of everyday life and the planning is more important than the actual sport, for example organising the event in great detail, or raising money (9)…….. charity. But adrenaline, too, plays a big part, with many saying they need a physical buzz that they can’t get from normal life.

(10)…….. can be a misconception to believe these people are reckless; in fact, they are often the opposite of what we assume. They try their hardest not to leave things (11)…….. chance and they don’t do anything (12)…….. they’re ready.

There’s also a lot of creativity in the things extreme-sports people do. These sports often don’t have established rules; the participants have to work them out (13)…….. they go along. Crucial to this (14)…….. a sense of trust in oneself and the environment, (15)…….. something that is necessarily encouraged nowadays. After all, we’re living in a time (16)…….. health and safetyrules are dominant.

Eating in space

Over the years, space (0)…….. has had a huge amount of investment and involved many people. All of this has been (17).…….. to society; without it we wouldn’t have such devices as mobile phones or satellite TV today. There have been countless (18)…….. in many aspects of space travel but advances made to food consumed in space have been (19)…….. slow.

Most early suggestions for the (20)…….. of food for astronauts were unacceptable, for example shredding their printed mission instructions and sprinkling them with water enriched with vitamins. The freeze-dried foods they did initially consume would doubtlessly
have been regarded as totally (21)…….. by those of us on Earth.

Today the (22)…….. of the International Space Station fortunately have a more appetising diet, since the larger spacecraft which is now being used (23).…….. them to take tinned foods and flexible pouches containing meat and vegetables. However, despite this, their food still remains limited, due to the (24).…….. challenges encountered with lack of gravity and the necessity for food to be sterile.

Reading and use of English

Part 4

For question 25—30, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given.

Do not change the word given. You must use between two and five words, including the word given. Here is an example (O).

Example:

0. James would only speak to the head of department alone.
ON
James …………………………………………………… to the head of department alone.

The gap can be filled by the words 'INSISTED ON SPEAKING'.

Write only the missing words IN CAPITAL LETTERS.

25. Hannah usually buys takeaway food at the weekend.

HABIT

Hannah is ……………………………….... takeaway food at the weekend.

26. Unless more tickets are sold, the concert will be cancelled.

RESULT

Failure to sell more tickets for the concert ……………………………….... off.

27. ‘I don’t want you driving at night,’ Anne told John.

RATHER

Anne told John that she ……………………………….... at night.

28. Peter suggested celebrating the team’s success with a party.

MADE

It was Peter ……………………………….... celebrate the team’s success with a party.

29. I had difficulty in following his complex arguments.

IT

I ……………………………….... his complex arguments.

30. Considering his lack of experience, Joe’s doing well.

INTO

If you take ……………………………….... very experienced, he’s doing well.

Reading and use of English

Part 5

You are going to read an article about a young musician. For questions 31—36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

Critical Thinking

We examine whether people are still able to engage in critical thinking in modern day society

Critical, or analytical, thinking is a way of interacting with what we read or listen to in attempt to have a deeper understanding. ‘There is a belief that argument is a way of finding the truth,’ observes Adrian West, research director at the Edward de Bono Foundation U.K.

Although there’s little debate that information technology complements – and often enhances – the human mind in the quest to store information and process an ever-growing tangle of bits and bytes, there’s increasing concern that the same technology is changing the way we approach complex problems, and making it more difficult
to really think. ‘We’re exposed to greater amounts of poor yet charismatic thinking, the fads of intellectual fashion, opinion, and mere assertion,’ says West. ‘The wealth of communications and information can easily overwhelm our reasoning abilities.’ What’s more, it’s ironic that ever-growing piles of data and information do not equate to greater knowledge and better decision-making. What’s remarkable, West says, is just ‘how little this has affected the quality of our thinking.’

According to the National Endowment for the Arts, literary reading, for one thing, declined 10 percentage points from 1982 to 2002, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Many, including Patricia Greenfield, a professor of psychology, believe that a greater focus on visual media comes at a price. ‘A drop-off in reading has possibly contributed to a decline in critical thinking,’ she says. ‘There is a greater emphasis on real-time media and multi-tasking rather than focusing on a single thing.’ Nevertheless, a definitive answer about how technology affects critical thinking is not yet available. Instead, due to the ever greater presence of technology, critical thinking has landed in a mushy swamp and academics can no longer rely on fundamental (line 38) beliefs that they previously held.

While it’s tempting to view computers, video games, and the internet in a largely good or bad way, the reality is that they may be both, with different technologies, systems and uses yielding entirely different results. For example, a video game may promote critical thinking or detract from it. Reading on the internet may ratchet up one’s ability to analyze while chasing an endless array of hyperlinks may undercut deeper thought.

‘Exposure to technology fundamentally changes the way people think’, says Greenfield. As visual media have exploded, noticeable changes
have resulted. ‘Reading enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media do not,’ Greenfield explains. ‘It develops imagination, induction, reflection, and critical thinking, and vocabulary.’ However, she has found that visual media actually improve some types of information processing. Unfortunately,‘most visual media are real-time and do not allow time for reflection, analysis, or imagination,’ she says. The upshot? Many people – particularly those who are younger – wind up not making the most of their capabilities.

How society views technology has a great deal to do with how it forms perceptions about critical thinking. And nowhere is the conflict more apparent than at the intersection of video games and cognition. James Paul Gee, a professor of educational psychology, points out that things aren’t always as they appear. ‘There is a strong undercurrent of opinion that video games aren’t healthy for kids,’ he says. ‘The reality is that they are not only a major form of entertainment, they often provide a very good tool for learning.’ In fact, joysticks can go a long way toward building smarter children with better reasoning skills. Games such as SimCity extend beyond rote memorization, and teach decision-making and analytical skills in immersive, virtual environments that resemble the real world. Moreover, these games give participants freedom to explore ideas and concepts that might otherwise be inaccessible.

Reading and use of English

Part 6

You are going to read four extracts from internet articles about technology in sports. For questions 37 – 40, choose from the experts A – D. The expert may be chosen more than once.

Technology in sports

A. Thomas P Benbow
Is technology transforming sport? The verdict is not yet clear. In the high-stakes televised world of football, a continued reluctance by governing bodies to embrace technology that would lead to greater accuracy, and thereby reduce controversial incidents of perceived injustice, has rightly frustrated players, coaches and media pundits. Perhaps the bigger question is, when technology is embraced, does it always have a beneficial result? Again there is ambivalence. With many sports in which people take part actively, such as cycling, giving the sport some room for technological development can keep sponsors coming, provide interest to fans and may prevent the sport from stagnating. Against this, what I term the ‘unintended consequences’ factor must be taken into account. The introduction of headgear in amateur boxing has reduced the severity of head injuries, but it can also give a boxer an increased sense of invulnerability, and therefore encourage boxers to hit harder or defend their heads less.

B. Sylvia Arada
The sport of aeromodelling has suggested that performance enhancements to the planes’ design and controls would reduce the technical ability and knowledge required to perform complex manoeuvres. However, when technology is at the heart of the intrinsic appeal of a sport, this is surely difficult to substantiate. I also have my reservations about goal-line technology in football. Recently introduced to improve the judging of outcomes at the top levels of football, this is impractical to implement at all levels. Ironically, this generates another version of unfairness, whereby technology is only available at certain levels of the game only. No less contentious is the issue of protective headgear. When light, strong plastic helmets were brought in in American football, the number of head injuries decreased, but the severity of those that did occur actually rose, as if the new helmets indirectly encouraged potentially dangerous and aggressive tackles.

C. Barrington Wick

My university’s current work includes developing shuttlecocks that fly well in the open air, so that more people can access badminton by playing it outdoors. But I am much less positive about camera-aided technology brought in to help referees make the right decisions. In team sports like football, the role of the referee is intended to be based on the interpretation of rules, on personal discretion and instincts, and this is clearly undermined here. Football is also affected by safety technology. The super-light boots may cause less damage to opponents when contact is made in tackling, but have also reduced the protection available to players’ feet, thereby increasing significantly the number of metatarsal injuries. And with a favourite pastime of mine, innovations such as depth finders and sonar have increased fishing’s popularity but de-skilled the requirement of fish detection and landing. This led to ‘technologically designed handicaps’ by the sport’s governing body to ensure fair play, throwing the sport into confusion.

D. Kamla Pumbaide

With an increased social and cultural emphasis on promotion of health and prevention of injury and illness, innovations such as high-tech shock-absorbing soles in running shoes and release binding in alpine skiing have undoubtedly benefited professional users. But technology isn’t always favourable. It can deter the layman and favour the elite; and I would cite cycling, with its vast industry of gadgets
and gizmos, as a case in point. And an issue of great interest to me is the theory of de-skilling which insinuates that a sport is made easier to undertake by the introduction of a technology or product. The Polara golf ball benefited lower-skilled players who had a greater tendency to make mistakes but not higher-skilled golfers who were already adept at making an accurate drive. It essentially de-skilled the game – and was, justifiably in my view, banned.

Which expert...

Reading and use of English

Part 7

You are going to read a magazine article by an explorer. Six paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose from the paragraphs A – G the one which fits each gap (41 – 46). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

 In search of the ice cave

Bill Colegrave sets out to find the source of Afghanistan’s Oxus River

In June 2007, together with companions Anthony and Dillon, and local guides Sheffi and Mirza, I set out to find the source of Afghanistan’s Oxus River in an ice cave where the five great mountain chains of Central Asia merge. On the eleventh day of our journey, we were walking along a steep river valley, when a glacier slowly emerged. According to our readings, the ice cave should have been 300 metres above us. We searched the glacier base, but it clearly petered out into bare rock, with no sign of a conjunction with the river. Not for the first time, I considered the possibility that the cave might not even be there anymore.

We felt a momentary twinge of disappointment that our target, the prize we had been dreaming of, should be so easily obtained. But the question of altitude still remained; surely we were still far too low? Indeed, the altimeter reading confirmed that we were.

What was more, the route ahead now looked difficult; there was no access to the south of the river, as the valley side was black, precipitous rock. The one apparently simple route was to go straight up the northwest bank. There seemed to be a plateau 100 metres above the valley, which we could use to approach the glacier from the north.

The expanse of glacial rock was fearsome. There were slippery boulders up to five metres high piled up everywhere and no obvious way through. Climbing over and around these became increasingly awkward. We were tired, irritable and in a hurry: a certain recipe for injury.

It took an hour to solve the problem, eventually using our own bodies to swing each other to the other side. The boulder clamber continued, but before long we lost sight of the glacier; the view was blocked by hills of loose rock the size of double-decker buses. Sheffi valiantly began cresting the first hill, and after a while turned towards us, waving enthusiastically, beckoning us to follow. Almost reluctantly, I set off again. The view ahead had been reduced to two remaining
hills, with churning water below. Beyond that was a black ice wall, and then, finally, a revelation: a cave. Surely this, at last, was it!

Dillon, thank goodness, had other ideas, and set off down without a word. The rest of us soon followed. When I got to the river’s edge, it
became clear that the bulk of the water wasn’t coming from the small black cave. Instead, hitherto hidden behind the rock was something bigger and much more impressive; something almost frightening.

Here was indeed exactly what I had secretly sought all along. This was the ice cave – the opening for the mountain, the way to its secrets.
We were intruders in its private place, which had remained largely undisturbed for centuries.

A. And as we neared the valley end, what had seemed to be an approach path refocused into jumbled layers of glacial rock. I realised it was naïve to have imagined that the ice cave would relinquish its secrets so readily.

B. What wasn’t clear, however, was whether, if we did that, we would then be met by further barriers, as yet invisible. It was now close to 4pm – not really a good time to be attempting something of this uncertainty, and at this altitude.

C. Even though we were still 40 or so metres above, I was happy to see it. But at that moment, I couldn’t imagine how I was going to make the extra effort of the climb there and back. I was using most of my energy just breathing.

D. My idea of how a river should be born was that it should come fully formed, belching and bellowing from the very heart of the Roof of the World. But this was different.

E. Putting such defeatist thoughts behind us, we pressed on, and then, directly in front of us, there emerged a larger glacier, where the valley ended abruptly. The ice cave had to be there at the base.

F. It was a sheer white wall. At its base, a hole opened up, maybe ten metres wide and almost as high. And from it came not a stream or a
trickle but a deep, wide gush, flowing as if from the belly of the mountain itself.

G. Fortunately this didn’t happen but then we ran into two streams rushing between the rocks. They were strong and cold, but not
impassable. We contemplated trying to skirt them and cross higher up, but decided against this, as we didn’t know how far we would have
to go.

Reading and use of English

Part 8

You are going to read an article in which an illustrator of children’s books talks about other illustrators’ work. For questions 47 – 56, choose from the sections (A – D). The sections may be chosen more than once.

Four inspiring illustrators
Illustrator Hannah Roberts talks about the work of other children’s book illustrators

A. Judith Kerr

I loved The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr when I was a child. I remember being obsessed with the scene where the tiger came and drank all the water in the tap. I think it was the domesticity of it, that this person was at home and that this could actually happen. Nothing much happens, in fact, but it’s still magical. Kerr keeps the words very simple, and the pictures give you clues about what they should sound like when delivered. In her Mog books, you can look at the cat’s face to see how shocking or dramatic the action is. He is just a funny cat, with an expressive face. If you mention Mog or The Tiger Who Came to Tea to someone under the age of 40, they usually smile, which is the instinctive reaction a children’s book should provoke. I can think of illustrators who are technically better and books with richer textual content, but, with Kerr, there’s something about the way the entire package fits together that’s wonderful.

B. Klaus Ensikat
I often feel that illustrators underestimate children. For some reason, pictures for them tend to be over-simple and brightly colourful. Klaus Ensikat’s illustrations, however, are very sophisticated. His drawing is absolutely exquisite, a little like engraving, and he covers large areas with fine, precise lines that give life to shadows, furniture, forests, clothes and soft fur. Those drawings are then washed over with fine watercolour paint, which makes them seem slightly melancholy. At the same time, they are funny and touching. My favourite of his books is a collection of old German children’s songs called Jeder nach seiner Art (To Each Their Own). The texts are handwritten in beautiful old-fashioned calligraphy, and next to them are tiny, perfect black-and-white drawings. Some of these songs about animals are really well known in the German-speaking world, and a less brilliant illustrator would render them visually as familiar, cheerful and superficial. But Ensikat has found new, surreal, romantic ways of illustrating them. I keep buying his books in the (so far vain) hope that I will discover his secret.

C. Lane Smith
I first saw Lane Smith’s work when I was a young illustrator. His book The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales was lively and irreverent. It had a fabulous sense of colour, and what especially appealed was the texture: I have always loved layered, dappled surfaces, and Lane Smith uses collage to create a wonderful, grungy feel. His artwork is innovative, and often reveals the absurdities in solemn, earnest attitudes and behaviour. His characters are striking and often staged on a flat plane like a theatre set. The overall design also marks out a Lane Smith look. His wife, Molly Leach, designs
the text on every page and, ingeniously, its appearance shapes the way it should be spoken. Lately, Smith’s approach has been more minimal. In his recent book, Grandpa Green, the colour is muted, with drawn outlines against white backgrounds. The truth is that his art has never stood still.

D. John Burningham

I recently came across a book by John Burningham, Mr Grumpy’s Outing, that instantly transported me back to my childhood. He can create the sense of a scorching hot summer’s day simply by using a few yellow dots and dashes to represent the sun; you can really feel the heat. His work looks almost haphazard, with smudges, scratches and splodges. But it doesn’t matter whether they were intended or just happy mistakes; they all come together in these wonderful, atmospheric images. You get the impression that he draws with whatever comes to hand. He builds the images with glorious blocks of
colour which he then works on with cross-hatching and scribbles of pencil and crayon. The results are full of movement and life. More recently, he has used photography, worked over with paint and mixed with drawn characters, to make rich landscapes. I love the humour he gets into these pictures, the expressions he conjures up with just a few lines. I’ve learned to take risks myself from looking at his books; they leave me feeling less afraid of that blank expanse of white paper.

Which illustrator’s work is described as...