Food Industry
For many years our daily diet has been based on the food pyramid created by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). This pyramid displays the recommended amounts of nutrients, such as protein, carbohydrates (carbs) and fat, that people should consume daily to maintain good health. According to this pyramid, carbs such as bread and pasta should be about half the food intake, while fats should not exceed 10%. However, though people have followed these recommendations, the obesity epidemic has spread and more people are now prone to other illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
What do we learn from Paragraph I?
i) Why the obesity rate has increased
ii) How the USDA created the food pyramid
iii) What effect the food pyramid had
iv) How nutrients help maintain good health
iii) What effect the food pyramid had
In many big cities around the world, whole neighborhoods are undergoing a process of renovation. The benefits are obvious: new buildings rise instead of old ones, others are restored, infrastructure is improved, the whole neighborhood changes its look and new residents arrive. But does everyone benefit from this process?
According to paragraph I, (–).
i) the process of renovation is worldwide
ii) everyone benefits from urban renovation
iii) big cities must be renovated
iv) there are negative aspects to renovation
i) the process of renovation is worldwide
Slack, a growing high-tech company launched in 2014, has created a platform that connects teams with the apps, services and resources they need in order to get their work done. Since all the teams' communications can be found in one place, it helps track emails, Skype conversations, text messages and other modes of communication instantly. Thanks to Slack, the teams' productivity has greatly improved.
What do we learn from paragraph I about Slack?
i) Why it has become popular.
ii) How it has affected team efficiency.
iii) What kinds of communications it has developed.
iv) How its productivity has improved.
ii) How it has affected team efficiency.
It is a known fact that about 70% of the earth's surface is covered by water. Yet, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2016, the water crisis is one of the biggest challenges we are facing. While we may think that there is plenty of water on earth, fresh water _ the liquid we drink, bathe in, irrigate our farm fields with _ is incredibly rare. Only 3% of the world’s water is fresh water and only 1% is available for use, and even this is at risk.
Water is becoming scarcer because of overuse caused by population growth, pollution and climate change. Between 1900 and 2000, the increase in world population was three times greater than during the entire previous history of humanity _ an increase from 1.5 to 6.1 billion in just 100 years _ and the need for water has grown dramatically for home use, agriculture and industry. While a person can live without food for weeks, this is not the case with water, which is essential for life. The average person needs to consume about two liters of water daily to stay healthy. It is evident that population growth causes a dangerous lack of water in many areas. But this is not the only problem.
What do we learn from paragraphs I and II?
PUT A ✓ BY THE TWO CORRECT ANSWERS.
___ i) Where the amount of fresh water is limited.
___ ii) Why our belief that fresh water is plentiful is wrong.
___ iii) Why there was an increase in world population.
___ iv) Why the demand for water is growing.
___ v) What climate change took place in recent years.
___ vi) Where we can find fresh water.
ii) Why our belief that fresh water is plentiful is wrong.
iv) Why the demand for water is growing.
In 2012, Stephen Power was severely injured in a motorbike crash. He broke both his cheek bones, upper jaw and nose, and fractured his skull. His recuperation took months, but even after being released from the hospital he was ashamed to leave his house because his face was deformed. Two years later, he returned to the hospital and underwent surgery that restored his looks. He was one of the first patients in the world whose face was reconstructed with bone replacements that were produced by a 3-dimensional (3-D) printer. To produce them, doctors used scanned images of his face.
What point does the writer make in paragraph I?
i) Reconstructing a person's appearance is problematic.
ii) Most bone replacements aren't useful.
iii) Modern technology can provide medical solutions.
iv) Three-D printers scan images of the face.
iii) Modern technology can provide medical solutions.
Is this really new information? It turns out that these were known facts. In the 1960s, the sugar industry stopped funding research whose preliminary results showed a link between sugar intake and heart disease; findings that the sugar industry wanted to hide. As a result, the study was terminated and the results were never published. Moreover, evidence has emerged that the sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to point out saturated fat, and not sugar, as a cause of heart disease. Similarly, according to the New York Times, Coca Cola funded research which recommended that people should focus on exercising rather than on what they eat or drink. Consequently, people kept consuming large quantities of sugar and other carbs even though it endangered their health.
PUT A ✓ BY THE TWO CORRECT ANSWERS.
According to paragraph III, the sugar industry is blamed for (–).
___ i) terminating a study whose findings could harm it
___ ii) publishing reliable study results
___ iii) paying scientists to mislead the public
___ iv) focusing attention on physical activity rather than on food
___ v) looking after the interests of the public
___ vi) funding research that connected sugar and heart disease
i) terminating a study whose findings could harm it
iii) paying scientists to mislead the public
It seems that this process poses many problems both to tenants and owners of apartments in the renovated neighborhoods. Not only do rent prices rise, but maintenance fees increase as well. It is true that the value of property goes up, but the apartment owners find the financial burden too heavy and many of them are forced to leave the neighborhood. Their place is taken by affluent people who come to live there.
What do we learn from paragraph II?
i) How tenants deal with the financial burden.
ii) Who does not benefit from the process.
iii) What obstacles affluent people have to deal with.
iv) Why maintenance fees are higher.
ii) Who does not benefit from the process.
Slack, a growing high-tech company launched in 2014, has created a platform that connects teams with the apps, services and resources they need in order to get their work done. Since all the teams' communications can be found in one place, it helps track emails, Skype conversations, text messages and other modes of communication instantly. Thanks to Slack, the teams' productivity has greatly improved. One of the reasons for Slack's popularity is its creative director, Anna Pickard. Anna, who may seem an unlikely figure to be a team member of Slack, is responsible for its being accessible and user-friendly. Before being hired for this position, she had earned a theater degree from Manchester Metropolitan University and had worked as a journalist.
From lines 1-11 we learn why Anna Pickard ____________________________________________
may seem an unlikely figure to be a team member of slack
Water is becoming scarcer because of overuse caused by population growth, pollution and climate change. Between 1900 and 2000, the increase in world population was three times greater than during the entire previous history of humanity _ an increase from 1.5 to 6.1 billion in just 100 years _ and the need for water has grown dramatically for home use, agriculture and industry. While a person can live without food for weeks, this is not the case with water, which is essential for life. The average person needs to consume about two liters of water daily to stay healthy. It is evident that population growth causes a dangerous lack of water in many areas. But this is not the only problem.
In paragraph II, the writer explains why the increase in world population _______________________
is one of the reasons for water scarcity / that water is becoming scarcer / that causes lack or shortage of water
Three-D printing has been used in industry for years. It has been making objects from toys to motorcycles to jewelry based on digital information. Now, it has become a fast-growing field in medicine. Many hospitals have started using the 3-D technology for a variety of purposes, one of which is creating 3-D organ models, such as models of patients' kidneys or hearts. Thanks to these models, the medical staff can plan surgeries and train for them.
COMPLETE THE SENTENCE.
The various objects mentioned in lines 11-12 are given to show that using 3-D printers in industry
_________________________________________________________________________________.
is not a new thing/technology
A new study published in 2017 may explain why this has happened. The study, which was carried out in 18 countries over a seven-year period, revealed that a low-fat diet might be dangerous to our health, while consuming high levels of fat decreases mortality rates. These findings have caused great confusion among people whose diets have been based for years on the assumption that fat is bad for one's health and should be consumed very moderately. The same study states that consuming large quantities of carbs is dangerous because carbs turn into glucose, a type of sugar, when they are consumed. Excess glucose, according to this study, is to be blamed for obesity and other illnesses.
Although people followed the USDA recommendations "the obesity epidemic has spread" (lines 8-9). Why has it happened? (paragraph II)
ANSWER: ____________________________________________________________________________________
they/people consumed large quantities of carbs that turned into excess glucose (and excess glucose is responsible for obesity)
COMPLETE THE SENTENCE. (paragraph V)
Both the investors and the municipal authorities __________________________________________
have an interest in/will benefit from the process of renovating/gentrification//are interested in the process of renovation/gentrification
One of the reasons for Slack's popularity is its creative director, Anna Pickard. Anna, who may seem an unlikely figure to be a team member of Slack, is responsible for its being accessible and user-friendly. Before being hired for this position, she had earned a theater degree from Manchester Metropolitan University and had worked as a journalist. What do Anna Pickard and Stewart Butterfield have in common?
Stewart Butterfield, Slack's founder and chief executive officer (CEO), who earned his master's degree in philosophy, identified Anna Pickard's potential. It is true that high-tech companies prefer to employ people who have majored in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM). However, many CEOs, like Stewart Butterfield, understand that people such as Anna Pickard can be great assets to their organizations. It turns out that learning history, philosophy, theater or art (humanities) is still important, and high-tech companies realize the value of those who have majored in these fields. These graduates often encounter puzzled looks from people who do not understand why they waste their time majoring in unessential fields at a time when there is a technological boom. However, these graduates can feel relieved, because there is an increasing demand for them in the job market.
COMPLETE THE SENTENCE (paragraphs II and III).
They both have ____________________________________________________________________.
a degree in humanities
Increased industrialization and human activities cause water pollution. Industry, for example, uses about twice as much water as households. Then it discharges its wastewater back into rivers, streams and oceans without any treatment, causing contamination of critical water sources. Lack of clean water leads to diseases, such as diarrhea and cholera. Every year, some 361,000 children under the age of five die from water-related diseases, and the number keeps growing.
From paragraph III we learn why water sources ___________________________________________.
are contaminated (and lead to diseases) / may become a source of disease
The 3-D models have a clear advantage over the previous methods _ CT and MRI scans _ on which surgeons have had to rely so far in order to make medical decisions. These scans provide only two-dimensional cross-sections of the organ. As a result, surgeons need years of training and experience to be able to translate these scans into what they may actually see and do during an operation. The 3-D models enable surgeons to be better prepared. They can perform certain procedures on the 3-D model before the actual operation. The surgeons are then more relaxed and less hesitant, and the operation becomes shorter and its chances of success higher. What are we told in paragraph III about the previous methods?
i) How they help surgeons be better prepared.
ii) What difficulty they pose.
iii) Why they are preferable to other methods.
iv) Which one is more accurate.
ii) What difficulty they pose.
The food industry is not the only one to blame. The American government has its share too. Any government has two conflicting roles: on the one hand, it should be responsible for promoting the nutritional health of the public. On the other hand, it has to protect the interests of the food growers and the food industry. Both have strong lobbies that have influenced the USDA's recommendations, often at the expense of public health. This should be of great interest to us since the food pyramid adopted by the USDA has become a model in many countries all over the world. Governments, including ours, adopted this pyramid without reservation.
COMPLETE THE SENTENCE.
In paragraph IV, the writer explains which ____________________________________________________________________________________
(two) conflicting roles any/every/a government has
In order to achieve that, the investors put pressure on the municipal authorities to issue building permits. These permits enable construction companies to renovate existing buildings and build new ones. The authorities have an interest in the process. They want more affluent people to come and live in these neighborhoods because they will be paying higher taxes. So, the municipality invests money in the neighborhood's infrastructure – it repairs roads and sidewalks, renews the sewage system, introduces more street lights, improves transport, plants trees and so on. All this, in turn, attracts wealthier people to come to live in the neighborhood.
COMPLETE THE SENTENCE. (paragraph V)
The municipality invests in infrastructure so that __________________________________________
wealthier / affluent people will come to live in the neighborhood / the neighborhood will attract wealthier / affluent people
Stewart Butterfield, Slack's founder and chief executive officer (CEO), who earned his master's degree in philosophy, identified Anna Pickard's potential. It is true that high-tech companies prefer to employ people who have majored in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM). However, many CEOs, like Stewart Butterfield, understand that people such as Anna Pickard can be great assets to their organizations. It turns out that learning history, philosophy, theater or art (humanities) is still important, and high-tech companies realize the value of those who have majored in these fields. These graduates often encounter puzzled looks from people who do not understand why they waste their time majoring in unessential fields at a time when there is a technological boom. However, these graduates can feel relieved, because there is an increasing demand for them in the job market.
What can we understand from paragraph III about the humanities?
i) There is no value in learning them.
ii) Their graduates can hardly find a job.
iii) High-tech companies underestimate their graduates.
iv) Their graduates are sought after by high-tech companies.
iv) Their graduates are sought after by high-tech companies.
Increased industrialization and human activities cause water pollution. Industry, for example, uses about twice as much water as households. Then it discharges its wastewater back into rivers, streams and oceans without any treatment, causing contamination of critical water sources. Lack of clean water leads to diseases, such as diarrhea and cholera. Every year, some 361,000 children under the age of five die from water-related diseases, and the number keeps growing.
What do we learn from paragraph III?
i) How fresh water sources become unusable.
ii) Which of the diseases is the most fatal.
iii) Who is responsible for treating water sources.
iv) Why industry uses twice as much water as households.
i) How fresh water sources become unusable.
Another important purpose of 3-D printing is creating customized replacements for bones in your body. If a person loses an arm, for example, a personalized prosthetic can be created, allowing the person to function with a minimal amount of discomfort. Until recently, only ready-made, off-the-shelf replacements were used, whether or not they fit the patient's body structure completely. Replacements of internal body parts, as in the case of Stephen Power, are also produced by a 3-D printer. The same goes for hearing aids that fit better and work better, improving patients' quality of life. "The 3-D printers enable us to realize the vision of personalized medicine," says Doctor Ziv Rosenbaum, Director of Medical Technology at Clalit Medical Services. "This is a technology that surgeons are happy to adopt."
In paragraph IV, the writer explains why customized replacements ____________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
are preferable to / are better tan off the shelf or ready made replacements
But who is to tell us that the current research is scientifically valid? If we can't rely on scientific research and on our governments, what then should we do? Probably, all we should do is avoid processed food and sweetened drinks, and eat in moderation.
COMPLETE THE SENTENCE.
In the last paragraph, the writer expresses his __________________________________________
concerns regarding the current research / doubts whether or not the current research is scientifically valid
The gentrification process usually starts when young people – students and artists – looking for cheap housing move into an old, neglected neighborhood, get involved in the community, open new businesses like cafes, bars or galleries and create an interest in the neighborhood. This attracts investors who are looking for new financial opportunities. They buy property in the old derelict buildings at low prices, knowing that its value will rise once the place is renovated.
What do we learn from lines 18-22 about gentrification?
PUT A 3 BY THE TWO CORRECT ANSWERS.
___ i) How long the process takes.
___ ii) Who has an economic interest in the process.
___ iii) Why young people are interested in opening new businesses.
___ iv) Why the newcomers want to get involved in the community.
___ v) When businessmen move into the old derelict buildings.
___ vi) Why the value of the property is supposed to rise.
ii) Who has an economic interest in the process.
vi) Why the value of the property is supposed to rise.
Georgia Nugent, a senior fellow at the Council of Independent Colleges, thinks that training students for very specific technological jobs is problematic in our era, since technology is changing at a very rapid pace and the knowledge they gain becomes obsolete very fast. “It’s a horrible irony that at the very moment the world has become more complex, we’re encouraging our young people to be highly specialized in one task,” she says. “We are doing a disservice to young people by telling them that life is a straight path." It seems that STEM students are not as well equipped to deal with the challenges and complexities of our world as humanities students are, and high-tech companies now realize this.
From paragraph V, we learn why Georgia Nugent __________________________________________
thinks that training students for very specific technological jobs is problematic / thinks that the training of STEM students is problematic
There is no one effective way to deal with this crisis. It is being tackled from different angles: one way is changing consumption habits through education. People should learn to turn off the tap while soaping dishes, make sure there are no leaks, etc. Raising the price of water is another way to encourage people to pay more attention to waste and prevent it. In addition, irrigation and agricultural practices should be improved. The use of drip irrigation systems, for example, saves a lot of water. So does recycling wastewater and reusing it for irrigation or in industry, like we do in Israel. There are, of course, other solutions and we can only hope that all possible solutions will prove efficient before the situation becomes worse. It is quite clear, though, that coping with water scarcity must be a universal effort.
COMPLETE THE SENTENCE. (paragraph V)
In order to ensure that water scarcity is dealt with effectively, ________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
the effort must be universal / there must be a universal effort / it should be tackled from difficult angles
The 3-D models have a clear advantage over the previous methods _ CT and MRI scans _on which surgeons have had to rely so far in order to make medical decisions. These scans provide only two-dimensional cross-sections of the organ. As a result, surgeons need years of training and experience to be able to translate these scans into what they may actually see and do during an operation. The 3-D models enable surgeons to be better prepared. They can perform certain procedures on the 3-D model before the actual operation. The surgeons are then more relaxed and less hesitant, and the operation becomes shorter and its chances of success higher.
Another important purpose of 3-D printing is creating customized replacements for bones in your body. If a person loses an arm, for example, a personalized prosthetic can be created, allowing the person to function with a minimal amount of discomfort. Until recently, only ready-made, off- the-shelf replacements were used, whether or not they fit the patient's body structure completely. Replacements of internal body parts, as in the case of Stephen Power, are also produced by a 3-D printer. The same goes for hearing aids that fit better and work better, improving patients' quality of life. "The 3-D printers enable us to realize the vision of personalized medicine," says Doctor Ziv Rosenbaum, Director of Medical Technology at Clalit Medical Services. "This is a technology that surgeons are happy to adopt."
According to both paragraphs II and IV, creating 3-D organ models (line 14) and creating customized replacements (line 23) are two of the __________________________________________
important purposes of using 3D printers in medicine