Matura A level reading (2019/20)

1 You are going to read an article in which people talk about childhood friends. For questions 1-12, choose from the people A-F. A ArchieAs a young kid, I used to hang out with Gavin, or rather, follow him around. Gavin was sort of my hero, self-confident and strong, and I guess I felt he could protect me. But one day he talked me into going into a derelict garden with an old house, and there was a sign that said ‘NO ENTRY. Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted’. He started throwing stones at the house and one broke a window with a loud ‘crash’. Suddenly a guard appeared and Gavin ran off, leaving me behind. He wasn’t my hero after that, I can tell you.B BeckyClara is by far my oldest friend, going back to my first day at primary school. She had a strange way of walking. She said she’d been shot in the hip by Imperial Stormtroopers while defending Princess Leia. From then on, we were Jedi Knights, or Pirates of the Caribbean, or medics in a war zone. She couldn’t run down the street, but she could race through worlds in her head. There was never a moment’s silence with her; stories poured out of her. Every day was an adventure, and every day a new victory.C Caryn I thought Jenny attached herself to me because I didn’t make fun of the way she talked. She had moved to our town from the country and people sometimes didn’t know what she was trying to say, and this gave her a complex. Also, we played handball together and built up a great understanding on the court, so we were put in the school team to compete against other schools in the region. But when I got a boyfriend, she completely changed towards me, and I decided we shouldn’t hang out any more.D DarenWe had great fun, Robert and I. We’d be walking along the street when I’d say ‘Race you to the corner’, and off we’d sprint. Or we’d be in a park and I’d dare him who could climb higher. He once got stuck in a tree and I had to help him down. In football, he supported his home team, Bayern Munich, and I the local team, Manchester United. But then his father got a job in Saudi Arabia and we lost contact. Years later, we found each other again through Facebook.E EdmundGustav was a special person. He stood out, and not just because of the birthmark on his face which embarrassed him so, though I thought he looked like a pirate. He was kind and gentle. We could talk together for hours. I think he was the only person who understood me at the time. My parents said that I wasn’t to see him. They thought it was weird that he’d want to be with someone so much younger. But I didn’t care. Then he got a place at university in another city, and he disappeared from my life.F FriedaThis stranger just exploded into our lives. Her family had moved to our town and she joined our class mid-term. When she burst into our classroom, it was like an alien landing, like she was from another planet. There was no controlling her. We would never think of walking along the canal after dark, until we saw her do that. We would walk in the park like young ladies, and I’d look up and see her up in a tree. She was, for all of us, an enigma.Which person had a friend who… A Archie they looked up to? let them down? B Becky had a physical disability? was talkative? C Caryn they broke up with? D Daren they were competitive with? was a foreigner? E Edmund they have lost touch with? was much older than them? they were forbidden to be with? F Frieda they couldn’t understand? was daring? 2 Read the text below, choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D).British teenage app designer wins investment16-year-old South Londoner Kent Dallaglio has developed an app which has made international headlines and attracted a big investment from a Hong Kong-based billionaire. It is an iPhone app which summarises the content of web pages. Dallaglio was nine years old when he begged his parents for a Macintosh laptop and set about teaching himself animation software before progressing through iMovie, Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro. “I was doing it for fun,” he says, “just playing around.” He is no computer addict – he enjoys playing rugby and cricket and regularly goes jogging. “I get my best ideas while jogging through the park,” he says. The idea for the app came while he was revising for a history exam. “It was late and I had a lot of work to do for school, preparing for the national exams, and was using Google, clicking in and out of search results, and it was taking too much time. If I found myself on a site that was interesting, I was reading it and that was wasting time,” he said. “It was then that I had the brainwave for this app. I thought that what I needed was a way of simplifying and summarising these web searches. What I wanted was a content preview.” This app is going to make Dallaglio a wealthy man. The first version of the app recorded 100,000 downloads and caught the eye of a private investment firm controlled by a Chinese billionaire that has put $250,000 (£159,000) into the project. Dallaglio says that learning to program “wasn’t that difficult.” He didn’t even take computing at school. “I really enjoy humanities, arts and philosophy. I also study Mandarin and would like to visit Asia.” He has been granted time off to travel to San Francisco for a meeting with his backers, but he quickly adds that he has no intention of turning his back on school. “I enjoy it, seeing my friends, the sport, the whole thing,” he says. Dallaglio considers the media attention to be a completely surreal experience. “I don’t think it’s quite hit me that I’m going to Silicon Valley next month with something that began in my London bedroom. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. My lucky break came when the investment firm found me – before that I was completely unknown. If you think you have a good idea, you should try it out. It might not work, but on the other hand, it might. When you are completely unknown, you have nothing to lose, so just go and take a risk.” Dallaglio goes to a school that is known for academic excellence, but he is an all-rounder, not just in the classroom but also on the football field: according to his gym teacher, he has a natural talent. He has already surpassed his parents’ expectations. After teaching himself software, he started experimenting with apps. It was his hobby that took him to the world of algorithms, and provided the IT skills needed for designing his app. Currently, his app can condense reference pages, news articles and reviews but has the potential to go a lot further. Dallaglio says it is a journey that has only just started. I believe we will be hearing about the exploits of this young man for a very long time.Where did Dallaglio think up the app? At work. At school. At home. Outside. According to Dallaglio, his invention of the app was a moment of inspiration. a piece of luck the result of hard work. just a game. Why did Dallaglio create the app? To improve his exam results. To make his revision more efficient. To avoid doing his homework. To make his fortune. What advice does Dallaglio give? Don’t worry about failing. Work hard and you’ll succeed. You’ll make money if you follow your interests. You need luck to succeed. According to the reporter, Dallaglio’s computer knowledge is a result of his schooling. his inborn brilliance. his free time activities. his parents’ ambitions for him. Dallaglio thinks his app is nothing special will change his life. is a big investment. is only the beginning 3 Choose from the sentences A-H the one which best fits the gap. There are two sentences that you do not need. (Write only the capital letter that is in front of the sentence) Decision timeEver since Plato, we have thought of ourselves as rational creatures. When we make a decision, we are supposed to carefully weigh the pros and cons. We say we are not slaves to our emotions but can put them aside and think logically. Over time, our rationality came to define us. (19) D. It was considered a characteristic that put us above animals. However, there’s a problem with the idea that we can be totally rational in our thinking – our minds don’t work that way. It turns out that we weren’t made to be particularly rational or logical. Our mind is a network of different areas, many of which are involved with emotions. (20)F. Even when we try to be reasonable, these emotional impulses influence our judgement. Some of the first evidence for this theory came from the work of the neurologist Antonio Damasio. In the early 1980s, Damasio began studying a patient named Elliot, who, after a brain tumour, lost the ability to experience any emotion at all. (21) C. It followed that a person without any emotions – like Elliot – should make completely rational decisions. But that isn’t what happened to Elliot. Instead, he just couldn’t make up his mind. Elliot endlessly deliberated over irrelevant details, like whether to use a blue or black pen, or what radio station to listen to, or where to park his car. When choosing where to eat lunch, he would carefully consider the restaurant’s menu, seating plan and lighting scheme. He would then drive to each restaurant to see how busy it was. But all this analysis was for nothing. (22) E. It turns out that emotions are necessary for decision making. And yet, this doesn’t mean that we should always trust our emotions. Although our gut feeling can often be astonishingly wise, it can also lead us to make decision-making mistakes. Why do we eat too much food, or spend too much money on our credit card, or make bad investment decisions? (23) A. When our emotions get out of control, the result can be just as devastating as having no emotions at all. Another example of emotions affecting our decision making is what is known as ‘loss aversion’. This was first identified by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. They noticed that when people were offered a gamble on the toss of a coin in which they might lose $20, they demanded an average payoff of at least $40 if they won. The pain of a loss was roughly twice as strong as the pleasure of a gain. (24) G. As Kahneman and Tversky put it, “In human decision making, losses loom larger than gains.” It is common sense to assume that too much emotion causes us to make poor decisions. However, a reduced level of emotion is just as damaging to rational thought as heightened emotion. Therefore, emotion is as important as logic in making decisions.A It’s because we’re listening to our emotional brain instead of thinking rationally.B A rational decision-making model provides a structured approach to decision making.C At the time, scientists assumed that our emotions were irrational.D It was, simply put, what made us human.E He still didn’t know what to do.F Whenever we make a decision, the brain is subject to feelings and passions.G People’s decisions seemed to be determined by these feelings.H The case of Elliot, however, led Damasio to the conclusion that the age-old dichotomy between emotions and reason is false. 4 Read the text below, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) that best completes each sentence Tough Job Market For TeensDelaney Allen-Mills, 17, and Juan Iraheta, 19, have little in common. Allen-Mills is a senior in high school; Iraheta (25)_ out of school in 10th grade. What the two teens share is a (26) _ of employment opportunities – both are struggling to find a full-time job. But teen hiring is sparse. The job market is tough for everyone. But this recession has become a jobs disaster for 16-to-19-year-olds. (27) _ most accounts, they would be better off staying in school than entering the workforce. Proportionally, more kids have lost jobs in the (28) _ few years than the entire country lost in the Great Depression. In 2000, teen employment was a relatively high 45%; nearly 7.3 million teens were getting a regular paycheck. Then something (29) _. By early 2008, teen employment had dropped (30) _ more than 1.5 million to well below 6 million. The problem is that older workers are crowding out kids. Teens in job-training programs are unlikely to land positions even in the mall – (31) _ they are up against much more experienced workers. In 2009, 42 teens enrolled in Jubilee’s job-search program; (32) _, only 11 found jobs. No one is sure what to do about the problem. However, growing teen unemployment could lead to an American workforce that lacks the skills to compete with the rest of the world. 25 dropped left passed went 26 knowledge lack need range 27 By From In On 28 latest recent past very 29 changed has changed had changed will have changed 30 at by for to 31 although because so whereas 32 as a result as opposed moreover nonetheless 5 Write one word that best completes each sentence Can a cup of coffee help you live longer?Too much coffee used to be considered a bad thing. Now researchers say drinking coffee could extend your life as you are less (33) likelyto die from a number of different ailments. These include heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes and infections, (34) butnot cancer. Researchers say they cannot establish whether coffee is really the cause of a lowered risk of death, but they have found a link. The research followed a large number of people taking (35)partin a diet and health study. Participants were classified into 3 groups (36) accordingto the amount of coffee they drank: those drinking (37) upto six cups a day, those drinking more than six cups a day and non-coffee drinkers. The research found an ‘inverse association’ between coffee consumption and death, (38) whichmeans those drinking greater amounts of coffee had a reduced risk of dying. Experts say it is not caffeine that gives health benefits, but (39) thereare biological effects from antioxidants and magnesium contained in coffee. Does all this mean that the (40) more coffee you drink, the longer you will live? Dr Euan Paul, executive director of the British Coffee Association, says “This research provides evidence that only moderate consumption of 4-5 cups of coffee per day is safe and may be associated with certain health benefits".