READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 on pages 2
and 3.

The Importance of Business Cards

The exchanging of business cards is as close to a universal ritual as you can find in the business world

The ritual may be universal. but the details of business cards and how they are swapped vary across
countries. Americans throw their cards casually across a table; the Japanese make the exchange of cards
a formal ceremony. While there are cards that are discreet and understated, others are crammed full of
details and titles. Some businesspeople hand out 24-carat gold cards, and there are kindergarten children
who have cards with not only their own contact details, but also with the job descriptions of their parents
and even grandparents. This practice has become so common in parts of New York, for example, that the
use of such cards is now prohibited by some of these institutions.

Cards have been around a long time in one form or another. The Chinese invented calling cards in the 15th
century to give people notice that they intended to pay them a visit, but these were for social purposes
only. Then, in the 17th century, European businesspeople invented a new type of card to act as miniature
advertisements, signalling the advent of the business card. In today's world, business cards can cause
people to have strong emotional reactions. According to one experienced company director, very few
things can provoke more heated discussion at a board meeting than the composition of the company's
business cards.

Lots of companies try to promote themselves by altering the form of the card, Employees at one famous
toy company give out little plastic figures with their contact details stamped on them. One fast food
company has business cards which are shaped like a portion of French fries. A Canadian divorce lawyer
once gave out cards that could be torn in two- for each of the spouses. For many business commentators,
such gimmicky business cards prove that the use of a physical business card is nearly at an end. After all,
why bother exchanging bits of thick paper at all when you can simply swap electronic versions by
smartphone.

However, one can just as well argue the opposite: that business cards are here to stay, and in a business
world full of meetings and correspondence, it is more important than ever that your card is unique.
Attempts to reinvent business cards for the digital age have not been successful. Even at the latest
technology conferences, people still greet each other by handing out little rectangles made from paper
rather than using a digital alternative.

To understand business cards, it is necessary to understand how business works. That business cards are
thriving in a digital age is a forceful reminder that there is much about business that is timeless. According
to Kate Jones, a business lecturer, there is one eternal and To understand business cards, it is necessary to
understand how business works. That business cards are thriving in a digital age is a forceful reminder that
there is much about business that is timeless. According to Kate Jones, a business lecturer, there is one
eternal and inescapable issue. Her 2006 study of more than 200 business executives in North America
found that trust was the key element for running a successful business. It is vital to be able to look someone
in the eye and decide what sort of person they are. In this way, you can transform acquaintanceships into
relationships. A good proportion of business life will always be about building social connections - having
dinner or playing port with clients and colleagues - and while computers can deal with administrative tasks.
it is still human beings that have to focus on the emotional.

The rapid advance of globalisation means that this relationship building process is becoming ever more
demanding Managers have to put more effort in when dealing with international counterparts. especially
when there is not a common language, which is so often the case these days. A recent UK survey showed
that chief executives of global organisations now routinely spend three out of every four weeks on
international travel It is in these situations that business cards are doubly useful, as they are a quick way
of establishing connections. Cards can also remind you that you have actually met someone in a face to
face meeting rather than just searched for them on the internet. Looking through piles of different cards
can enhance your memory in ways that simply looking through uniform electronic lists would never do.

Janet McIntyre is a leading expert on business cards in today's world. She maintains that as companies
become more complex, cards are essential in determining the exact status of every contact you meet in
multinational corporations. Janet also explains how exchanging buiness cards can be an effective way of
initiating a conversation, because it gives people a ritual to follow when they first meet a new business
contact.

The business world is obsessed with the idea of creating and inventing new things that will change the
way we do everything, and this does lead to progress. But there are lots of things that do not need to be
changed and in Janet McIntyre's view, tradition also has an equally valuable role to play. Therefore the
practice of exchanging business cards is likely to continue in the business world.
Questions 1-5

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement Contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

1 Children's business cards have been banned in some kindergartens.

2 It was the Chinese who first began the practice of using business cards.

3 Designing business cards can be a controversial process for some companies.

4 A famous toy company has boosted their sales by using one type of unusual business card.

5 Some business commentators predict a decline in the use of paper business cards.
Questions 6-13

Complete the notes below

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 6-13 on your
answer sheet

How business works

Kate Jones's research

• The most important aspect of business is having 6 ………… in others.

• 7 ………… do not have the ability to establish the good relationships essential to business.

Business and globalisation

• Managers must work harder when they don't share the same 8 ………… with their contacts.
• A UK survey indicates that 9 ………… takes up the largest part of business leaders time.
• A business person's 10 ………… of a meeting can be improved by looking at business cards.

Janet McIntyre

• Business cards clearly show the 11………… of each person in a large company.
• The ritual of swapping business cards is a good way of starting a 12………… at the beginning of a
business relationship
• Janet feels that in the business world, 13………… is just as important as innovation.
READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading
Passage 3.

Sea Change for Salinity

One of the most serious problems facing Australian farmers is an increase in the salt
content in the soil. However, there are new weapons emerging in the fight against
salinity

A Beneath the flat, impassive surface of Australia lie hidden mountains, valleys and
gorges - ancient traps and channels for the deadly salt that is stealthily killing so
much of the Australian landscape. The war on salt is calling forth new weapons.
A suite of high technologies used by geologists to see underground and prospect
for gold and minerals is now being used to pinpoint the presence of salt beneath
the landscape, and predict where it might move.

B Unless this process is clearly understood, warns Chief of Exploration and Mining
Dr Neil Phillips, the hard work now underway of planning and tree-planting on the
surface may be rendered ineffective: salt can still sneak past and erupt, following
one of the ancient river channels formed millions of years ago. The use of
airborne electromagnetic to detect salt hidden beneath the landscape has been
around for a decade, but the past two years have seen a major development in
its precision and powers of detection. Like the use of radar in battles, it has the
potential to turn the tide of the struggle in favour of the defence by helping to
pinpoint, plot and predict the movements of the foe.

C Angus Howell, who farms near Warrenbayne, in Southeast Australia, saw his
first outbreak of salt in 1948. Over the ensuing decades the patches spread and
multiplied until they consumed almost 100 hectares. By the late 1970s, Howell
and his fellow farmers had decided it was time for action and established a
government-funded "Landcare' group in a bid to save Australia's farmland. But
despite a mounting effort by scientists, farmers and governments, the 'white
death' continued to encroach. Small successes were eclipsed by larger defeats
and fresh outbreaks.

D ‘The technical solutions just aren't there yet for dealing with broadacre salinity,
nor are the social and economic solutions. How do you introduce the land-use
changes that are needed when people still need to make a living?' Howell asks.
There is no satisfactory solution yet. Part of the problem has lain in salt's ability
to mount ambushes, emerging somewhere new, sometimes unexpected and
unexplained, beating plans to intercept it. Only now are scientists starting to
really disclose its secret subterranean stores and passages.

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E The need for such knowledge is pressing. Salt has already afflicted six million
hectares of once-productive country. At present rates it is predicted that, by
2050. it will have sterilised a total of 17 million hectares and the waters of
Australia's Murray River will regularly exceed the World Health Organisation's salt
limits for drinking water. Defeating this assault may take centuries, not decades.

F Electromagnetic surveys measure the electrical conductivity of soil to reveal the

distribution of salt and the nature and variability of the regolith - the weathered
rock and sediment that may lie above the bedrock. Magnetic surveys measure
small differences in the Earth's magnetic field, enabling scientists to probe the
deep past and reconstruct ancient landscapes - rivers, basins and faults now
buried under tens of metres of sediments. These features help to reveal where
groundwater is stored, dictate the direction of groundwater movement, and are
critical to predicting or ruling out salinity hot-spots.

G Radiometric analysis is based on the detection of radiation emitted by elements

contained in rocks and soils, allowing scientists to delineate landforms. These
factors influence the mobility of salt through the soil profile and help determine
where to plant particular crop species to tackle the problem.

Using data from the Murray River region, scientists have revealed a network of
ancient drainage channels buried metres beneath the current landscape. These
buried channels may carry salt and sometimes run at right angles to channels on
the surface. This implies that the salt could move underground in quite a
different direction to what one would expect by looking at surface slope and
drainage.

H One of the biggest advances in detection, says Professor Neil Phillips, has come
with the integration of different techniques such as magnetics, electromagnetics
and radiomagnetics, and ground mapping. Individually, these technologies only
gave clues to what was going on underground. Together they provide a far more
revealing picture of the subsurface landscape, several hundred metres deep.
Advanced airborne electromagnetics, in particular, enables scientists to take ‘slices’ of
the landscape at depths of five metres, ten metres, fifteen metres and so on, to
determine where salt may be stored at depth. This is building up a four-dimensional
picture of the subsurface landscape, enabling researchers to understand movements
of salt in width, depth, breadth and time.

From such technologies it will be possible to locate salt stores, identify how saline
they are, look at man-made and natural changes to the landscape that may
cause it to mobilise, and then predict where it will head to and over what time
span. This in turn will give the salt warriors time to model various ways of
containing or curbing the menace, see what works best and then try it out on the
ground.

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READING PASSAGE 3
Questions 1 – 14
Answer questions 1 – 14 by referring to Reading Passage 3 on pages 6 and 7 of the
separate booklet.
Reading Passage 3 has eight sections A – H.
Which section A – H contains the following information (Questions 1 – 7)?
For questions 1 – 7, write the correct letter A – H on your answer sheet, together with
the number of each question.
You may use any letter more than once.
1 a prediction of the future risk of salt to water supplies.
2 the reason why technologies must be combined to be effective
3 a reference to the recent improvements in the accuracy of airborne
electromagnetics
4 the organization of concerned farmers into an official body
5 the estimated length of time salinity is likely to be a problem
6 a summary of stages in a proposed plan of action to combat the salt problem
7 the possibility that current re-vegetation practices are a waste of time

Questions 8-10
Look at the list of techniques (Questions 8 - 10) and the list of uses which follows it
Match each technique with the correct use, A, B, C or D.
For questions 8 - 10, write the correct letter A - D on your answer sheet, together with
the number of each question.

List of techniques
8 Electromagnetic surveys
9 Radiometric analysis
10 Airborne electromagnetics

List of uses
A can help farmers choose the best location for plants
B can show the composition of the top layer of the ground
C can detect how far below ground the salt is
D can determine how old the salt is in a particular area

Questions 11 - 14
For questions 11 - 14, choose the correct letter, A, B. C or D.
Write the correct letter A - D on your answer sheet, together with the number of each
question.

11 What link does the writer make between salt and gold?
A They can both be found in the same locations.
B Both have been found to have an impact on the landscape.
C The same techniques can be used to find both.
D Neither are present in mountainous areas.

3
12 What is the 'process' referred to in Section B?
A the killing of vegetation by salt
B salt's ability to travel below ground
C the ability of trees to decrease salt levels
D the detection of salt by tracing other minerals

13 According to Angus Howell, one problem in the fight against salinity is that
A not enough farmers are concerned about the fight.
B farmers' requests for help have been ignored.
C some possible measures may cause farmers to lose income
D the government has not provided farmers with sufficient financial support.

14 Which of the following best describes the writer's view of the salinity problem in
Australia?
A Farmers are fighting an enemy that moves secretly and hides well
B Farmers have been able to contain this enemy in a small area.
C Farmers have already had significant success in fighting this problem.
D Farmers need to form more organised groups to solve this problem.