REPEAT THE TEXT

You now have 3 minutes to check your answers to Questions 1 - 10.

That is the end of Part C. You now have 5 minutes to transfer all your answers from your test booklet to ANSWER SHEET 1.

That is the end of Listening Comprehension.

SECTION II: Use of EnglishRead the following text and fill each of the numbered spaces with ONE suitable word. Write your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.

Children who grip their pens too close to the writing point are likely to be at a disadvantage in examinations,

(1) _____ to the first serious investigation¹ into the way in which writing technique can dramatically affect educational achievement.The survey of 643 children and adults, aged² from pre-school to 40-plus, also suggests

(2) _____ pen-holding techniques have deteriorated³ sharply over one generation, with teachers now paying far

(3) ______ attention to correct pen grip and handwriting style.Stephanie Thomas, a learning support teacher

(4) ______ findings have been published, was inspired to investigate this area

(5) _______ she noticed that those pupils who had the most trouble with spelling

(6) ______ had a poor pen grip. While Ms. Thomas could not establish a significant statistical⁴ link

(7) ______ pen-holding style and accuracy in spelling, she

(8) ______ find huge differences in technique between the young children and the mature adults, and a definite

(9) ________ between near-point gripping and slow, illegible⁵ writing.People who

(10) ______ their pens at the writing point also show other characteristics

(11) ______ inhibit⁶ learning,

(12) _______ as poor posture⁷, leaning too

(13) ______ to the desk, using four fingers to grip the pen

(14) ______ than three, and clumsy positioning of the thumb (which can obscure

(15) ______ is being written.Ms. Thomas believes that the

(16) ______ between older and younger writers is

(17) ________ too dramatic to be accounted for simply by the possibility that people get better at writing as they grow

(18) ________. She attributes it to a failure to teach the most effective methods, pointing out that the differences between

(19) _______ groups coincides with the abandonment of formal handwriting instruction in classrooms in the sixties. "The 30-year-olds showed a huge range of grips,

(20) ________ the over 40s group all had a uniform 'tripod' grip."

SECTION III: Reading Comprehension

Part ARead the following texts and answer the questions which accompany them by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.

Text 1

In recent years, there has been a steady assault on salt from the doctors: salt is bad for you ? regardless of your health. Politicians also got on board. "There is a direct relationship," US congressman⁸ Neal Smith noted⁹, "between the amount of sodium¹⁰ a person consumes and heart disease, circulatory disorders¹¹, stroke and even early death."Frightening, if true! But many doctors and medical researchers are now beginning to feel the salt scare has gone too far. "All this hue¹² and cry about eating salt is unnecessary," Dr. Dustan insists. "For most of us it probably doesn't make much difference how much salt we eat." Dustan's most recent short-term study of 150 people showed that those with normal blood pressure experienced no change at all when placed on an extremely low-salt diet, or later when salt was