READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Growing of the Aging Society

A

American scientists say that the elderly are now healthier, happier and more independent. The results of a study that has taken place over a 14-year period will be released at the end of the month. The research will show that common health disorders suffered by the elderly are affecting fewer people and happening after in life.

B

Over the last 14 years, The National Long-term Health Care Survey has gathered data from more than 20,000 males and females over the age of 65 about their health and lifestyles. The group has analysed the results of data gathered in 1994 on conditions such as arthritis, high blood pressure and poor circulation; these were the most common medical complaints for this age group. The results show that these conditions are troubling a smaller proportion of people each year and decreasing very quickly. Other diseases suffered by the elderly including dementia, emphysema and arteriosclerosis are also affecting fewer people.

C

According to Kenneth Manton, a demographer from Duke University in North Carolina, “the question of what should be considered normal ageing has really changed.” He also mentioned that diseases suffered by many people around the age of 65 in 1982 are now not occurring until people reach the age of 70-75.

D

It is clear that due to medical advances some diseases are not as prominent as they used to be. However, there was also be other factors influencing this change. For instance, improvements in childhood nutrition in the first quarter of the twentieth century gave many people a better start in life than was possible before.

E

The data also shows some negative changes in public health. The research suggests that the rise of respiratory conditions such as lung cancer and bronchitis may reflect changing smoking habits and an increase in air pollution. Manton says that as we have been exposed to worse and worse pollution, it is not surprising that some people over the age of 60 are suffering as a result.

F

Manton also found that better-educated people are likely to live longer. For instance, women of 65 with less than eight years of education are expected to live to around 82. Those who studied more could be able to live seven years longer. Whilst some of this can be attributed to better-educated people usually having a higher income, Manton believes it is mainly because they pay closer attention to their health.

G

Also, the survey estimated how independent people of 65 were and found a striking trend. In the 1994 survey, almost 80% of them were able to complete activities such as eating and dressing alone as well as handling difficult tasks, like cooking and managing their financial affairs. This situation indicates an important drop among disabled elderly people in the population. If 14 years ago, the apparent trends in the US had continued, researchers believe that there would be one million disabled elderly people in today’s population. Manton shows the trend saved more than $200 billion for the US’s governments Medicare system, and it has suggested the elderly American population is less of a financial burden than expected.

H

The growing number of independent elderly people is probably linked to the huge increase in home medical aids. For instance, the research shows the use of raising toilet seat covers and bath seats has increased by more than fifty per cent. Also, these developments about health benefits are reported by the MacArthur Foundation’s research group for successful ageing. It found the elderly who are able to take care of themselves were more likely to stay healthy in their old age.

I

Retaining a certain level of daily physical activity may also help brain function, according to Carl Cotman, a neuroscientist at the University of California at Irvine. He found that rats exercising on a treadmill have higher levels of a brain-derived neurotrophic factor in their brains. He believes the hormone which holds neuron functions may prevent the active human’s brain function from declining.

J

Teresa Seeman, a social epidemiologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, was conducting the same research. She found a line between self-esteem and stress in people over 70. The elderly who did challenging activities such as driving have more control of their mind and have a lower level of the stress hormone cortisol in their brains. Chronically high levels of this hormone can cause heart disease.

K

However, an independent life may have negative points. Seeman knew that the elderly people that were living alone were able to retain higher levels of stress hormones even when sleeping. The research indicates that elderly people are happier if they can live an independent life but also acknowledge when they need help.

L

Seeman says, “With many cases of research about ageing, these results help common sense.” Also, the situations show that we may be ignoring some of the simple factors. She mentions, “The sort of thing your grandmother always used to talk to you about seems to be exactly right.”

Questions 1-6

Reading Passage 1 has twelve paragraphs, A-L.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-vii, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i           Disorders strike much later in life.

ii          Drawbacks in public health.

iii         Longevity based on high education.

iv         The elderly people of today got better nutrition when they were children.

v          The elderly are becoming more well off.

vi         Most of independent people over 65 complete activities themselves.

vii        Diseases have decreased recently.

            Example                      Answer           

            Paragraph A                v

1   Paragraph B

2   Paragraph C

3   Paragraph D

4   Paragraph E

5   Paragraph F

6   Paragraph G

Questions 7-13

Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 7-13 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

7   Smoking habits are a crucial cause in some cancers.

8   The better-educated elderly people tend to live longer.

9   People over 65 can independently manage a variety of tasks.

10   Elderly people have overcome dementia as a result of home medical aids.

11   Continuing physical exercises is likely to assist digestive function.

12   People over 70 who still do challenging things such as driving are able to lower their level of the hormone cortisol which is linked to heart disease.

13   Isolation may cause a higher level of stress hormones.

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. 

Space Flight Tourism

Falcon 1’s successful launch on 28th of September was an outstanding achievement for the fledgeling space tourism industry. When a rocket made by Space X in Hawthorne, California, reached an orbit of 500 kilometres from the Earth, it became possible for privately developed rocket too.

Two days after the launch, Virgin Galactic started a business with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which will be accepted by US scientists as a way of researching climate change using a spacecraft.

No doubt the civilian space flight industry is an exciting area and this was apparent at the International Aeronautical Congress in Glasgow last month. It displayed slick promotional videos, and models of the “Nearly Ready” spacecraft in orbit to the people who would be investing money in the project.

However, in spite of increasing confidence, it is also necessary to be cautious: can a civilian spacecraft be safe like holiday airlines? Gerardine Goh, a lawyer at DLR, the German Aerospace Centre in Bonn and a member of Germany’s delegation to the UN’s Office of Outer Space Affairs reported that as it is not global, there need to be enforceable regulations in place to guarantee the safety of a civilian spacecraft. She said, “Ships should be equipped to be seaworthy, aircraft should be equipped to be airworthy but there is no legislation in place to ensure that a spacecraft is spaceworthy.”

At the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety, Goh is planning to press the UN to force civilian space operators to warrant which spacecraft are designed and built to minimum safety standards. She says, “Mass commercial space flight does not currently have international safety regulations.” and “We deeply need a UN treaty which offers us this.”

One way companies are planning to transport tourists into space is with a “mother ship”, an aircraft which carries a rocket at an altitude of 16 kilometres before launching it, says Goh. “But with launching the aircraft, the ICAO’s air safety standards only apply to the mother ship and the rocket capsule until they are separated. After that, we do not have any safety standards for the capsule itself. It is a critical problem.”

From 16 kilometres to the Karman line, the point of 100 kilometres up where space is considered to start, the rocket will be travelling within a legal vacuum. Here, lawyers cannot agree on whether it is a plane or a rocket. Some insist that if you are in a well-equipped functioning rocket, more strict safety measures should try to be incorporated into the spaceship’s design.

The other aspects of the UN’s 1967 treaty for outer space exploration may be discussed again if civilian space flight turns out to be successful. For example, countries must consider how to rescue and repatriate astronauts crashing or landing in their land. Also, governments have to decide if the money generated by the space flight industry will be enough to cover the cost of rescuing space tourists.

Civilian space flight companies are very aware of the risks in this field as they have already had the experience of dealing with a tragedy. Unfortunately, three engineers were killed and another three were severely injured in 2007, when nitrous oxide rocket fuel suddenly exploded during fuel flow tests at a Scaled Composites facility in Mojave, California. The company is establishing WhiteKnightTwo, a carrier aircraft and SpaceShip Two, a six-seater rocket for Virgin Galactic. The facility was regulated by California’s health and safety regulator, and it has now modified its technology to decrease the risks.

However, space flight’s dangers are far from just fuel issues. According to Laurent Gathier of Dassault Aviation developing the VSH of a rocketpowered sub-orbital tourist space plane, other critical safety factors are with depressurization risks, passengers close to the engine and the activities of flight trajectories including cosmic ray shielding.

Civilian space companies should incorporate the safety features into their designs. For instance, the VSH will equip an ejector seat for all tourists and staff. It is a device for bailing out of the spacecraft with a default of 40,000 feet (12 kilometres).

Goh’s vision is essentially against the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) and does not have any schemes to regulate civilian space flight safety until 2012. The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 mentions that George Nield as AST chief said, the civilian space flight regulation must not “stifle” the developing technologies with inconvenient rules.

Before launching, a hands-off approach to civilian space flight could be quite risky. Goh said, “A lack of safety standards and a lot of operational burdens will leave a commercial space flight in the dangerous activity categories in terms of the insurance.” It means insurance costs will be very high. Critics who are developing safety standards also insist that the “at-your-own-risk” mentality that is applied to risky sports like scuba-diving should also be applied to civilian space flight.

Questions 14-20

Complete the summary.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.

On 28 September the emerging space tourism industry was enormous. In Hawthorne, California, a rocket was erected by 14…………………….. Climate change was monitored by 15……………………… in US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration using its spacecraft. In Glasgow, at the International Aeronautical meeting, it is apparent that civilian space flight industry is growing, as it showed the 16……………………. spacecraft which promised sub-orbital flights. Although developing confirmation, non-regulation is clear to guarantee 17………………………. A method for space business is cooperating with a 18………………………. conveyable at 16 kilometres in the skies. From 16 kilometres to 100 kilometres’ travelling may be available, but lawyers definitely cannot agree with whether it is a 19………………………. or a rocket. 20………………………… need to be revisited if civilian space flight proves successful.

Questions 21-26

Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-I below.

Write the correct letter A-I in boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet.

21   Civilian space flight companies

22   Laurent Gathier

23   VSH devised for a safety

24   AST chief George Nield

25   Insurance costs

26   Critics

A     assisted some minimum safety standards may prevent that.

B     emphasised a civilian space flight must not be under a severe regulation for technical advancement.

C     hardly need a reminder of the danger when considering past experiences.

D     will protect a commercial space flight.

E     try to develop a module of safety regulations applied to civilian space flight.

F     made up for an ejector seat for tourists and the crew in case of a craft emergency in the skies.

G     indicated the main safety problems were with passengers’ proximity to the powerful engine.

H     believed that scuba-diving should be applied to civilian space flight.

I      kept costs stratospheric.