PACKAGE 4

Text for question 1-5

People appear to be born to compute. The numerical skills of children develop so
early and so inexorably that it is easy to imagine an internal clock of mathematical maturity
guiding their growth. Not long after learning to walk and talk, they can set the table with
impressive accuracy- one plate, one knife, one spoon, one fork, for each of the five chairs.
Soon they are capable of noting that they have placed five knives, spoons, and forks on the
table and, a bit later, that this amounts to fifteen pieces of silverware. Having thus mastered
addition, they move onto subtraction. It seems almost reasonable to expect that if a child
were secluded on a desert island at birth and retrieved seven years later, he or she could
enter a second-grade mathematics class without any serious problems of intellectual
adjustment.
Of course, the truth is not so simple. This century, the work of cognitive
psychologists has illuminated the subtle forms of daily learning on which intellectual
progress depends. Children were observed as they slowly grasped – or, as the case might be,
bumped into- concepts that adults take for granted, as they refused, for instance, to
concede the quantity is unchanged as water pours from a short stout glass into a tall thin
one. Psychologists have since demonstrated that young children, asked to count the pencils
in a pile, readily report the number of blue or red pencils, but must be coaxed into finding
the total. Such studies have suggested that the rudiments of mathematics are mastered
gradually, and with effort. They have also suggested that the very concept of abstract
numbers – the idea of a oneness, a twoness, a thereness that applies to any class of objects
and is a prerequisite for doing anything more mathematically demanding than setting a
table – is itself far from innate.

1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. Trends in teaching mathematics to children
B. The use of mathematics in child psychology
C. The development of mathematical ability in children
D. The fundamental concepts of mathematics that children must learn
E. Mathematics application on the daily life

2. It can be inferred from the passage that children normally learn simple counting …
A. Soon after they learn to talk
B. By looking at the clock
C. If they live on a secluded islands
D. When they begin to be mathematically mature
E. After they reach second grade in school

3. The word “illuminated” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to …

A. Illustrated
B. Accepted
C. Clarified
D. Examined
E. Lighted
4. The author implies that most small children believe that the quantity of water changes
when it is transferred to a container of a different …
A. Colour
B. Quality
C. Weight
D. Thickness
E. Shape

5. According to the passage, when small children were asked to count a pile of blue and
red pencils they …
A. Counted the number of pencils of each colour
B. Guessed at the total number of pencils
C. Counted only the pencils of their favourite colour
D. Subtracted the number of red pencils from the number of blue pencils
E. Refused to count the pencils of their favourite colours

6. With which of the following statements would the author be least likely to agree?
A. Children naturally and easily learn mathematics
B. Children learn to add before they learn to subtract
C. Most people follow the same pattern of mathematical development
D. Mathematical development is subtle and gradual
E. Children learn subtraction after learning addition

Text for question 7 - 10

The seemingly simple question of “what defines a sport?” has been the fodder for
argument and conversation for years, among professional and armchair athletes alike. There
seems to be no doubt that vigorous and highly competitive activities such as baseball,
football, and soccer are truly “sports,” but when the subject of other activities such as darts,
chess, and shuffleboard is broached we find ourselves at the heart of a controversy.
If say, billiards, is not a sport, then what exactly is it? Those who would dispute it to
be a sport would respond that it is a simple leisure activity. They would go on to claim a true
sport first and foremost requires some form of physical exertion. More to the point, if a
player does not break a sweat, what he or she plays is not a sport. Beyond that, more
important criteria would be the need for decent hand-eye coordination, and the ever-present
possibility of sustaining injury. Billiards only fits one of those specifications (hand-eye
coordination), so according to the doubters, it is not a real sport.
To help resolve this dispute, the first text to consult would have to be the dictionary.
According to one dictionary, a sport is defined as “a diversion” or a “recreation.” Assuming
one strictly adheres to the simple guidelines laid out in that definition, it would seem that
almost any activity that provides enjoyment could be classified as a sport. And if, according
to the dictionary, watching a sport on television is a sport itself, I guess that would make a
couch potato an athlete. Play ball!

7. The word “vigorous” in line 3 most nearly means …

A. languorous
 B. boring
C. intricate
D. ancient
E. Strenuous

8. According to the criteria given in italic sentences, all of the following would be
considered a “true” sport, EXCEPT …
A. cheerleading
B. skiing
C. Race
D. car driving
E. horse shoes

9. The word “dispute” in line 16 can be nest replaced by …

A. Encouragement
B. Conflict
C. Problem
D. Hinder
E. Trial

10. The author’s tone in passage could be described as …

A. Serious
B. Cynical
C. Distinguish
D. Romantic
E. Dark

Text for question 11-20

Scavengers—animals that feed on carcasses, rotting plants, or waste—get a bad rap.
Yellowjackets and raccoons swarming around garbage cans can seem like annoying pests at
best and germ-infested monsters at worst. Indeed, scavengers have been known to spread
diseases such as meningitis, leptospirosis, and bubonic plague, so it’s no surprise that they
are the focus of a huge extermination industry. But our habit of eradicating irksome species
ignores an important fact: scavenger relationships are essential to all complex life.
The selective pressures of scavenger behaviour accelerate the evolution of social
intelligence. For thousands of generations, some scavenger species have struggled to outwit
the wily hunters with whom they compete for scraps. They must predict, plan, and
communicate as they approach a carcass in order to avoid becoming the next prey. At the
same time, hunters like Homo sapiens had to become more clever to protect their meat
from these thieves. This social interaction has allowed at least one scavenger species to
thrive in an anthropocentric (human-centered) world: Canis lupus familiaris—the
domesticated dog. Your pet terrier would not be such a faithful companion if its ancestor,
the grey wolf, had not spend so much time picking over the trash of our hunter forebears. In
just 20,000 years, we have become symbionts (species that live together in a mutually
supportive relationship) turning a few lines of wolves from freeloading foragers into friendly
Frisbee- fetchers.
 Even less perspicacious scavengers play a vital role in complex ecosystems, often in
unexpected ways. As plastic waste accumulates rapidly in the ocean (and is expected to
surpass the total mass of fish by 2050), and toxic chemical waste continues to be dumped
into our water supplies, the role of one particular class of scavenger, the decomposers, has
become critical. These creatures break down complex molecules into simpler ones in a
process called biodegradation. Alcanivorax borkumensis, a naturally occurring marine
bacterium, can digest petroleum and convert it into food energy. Hydrocarbons like
petroleum and plastics are energy-rich organic molecules much like starches, fats, and
proteins, so the idea that they can be used as food by opportunistic organisms is not so
biochemically far-fetched. After crude oil spills, clean-up crews encourage this
biodegradation by using chemical dispersant to break the petroleum into smaller droplets,
thereby creating more surface area for the bacteria to attack. Another decomposer,
Aspergillus tubingensis, is able to greatly accelerate the breakdown of polyester
polyurethane, a petroleum product and one of the more durable plastics in our landfills and
oceans. Although environmentalists have yet to discover a practical method for harnessing
A. tubingensis in large-scale waste mitigation systems, such bio- technological solutions may
not be far off.
Our dependence on unicellular opportunists goes deeper still: our digestive processes, blood
pressure, and immune system depend on thousands of species of scavenger bacteria that
live primarily in our gut and make up our microbiome. These organisms patrol the intricate
chemical pathways of the gut and perform duties that, under normal circumstances, keep
things running smoothly. The overuse of antibiotics, our favourite pharmaceutical pest-
control system, often compromise healthy systemic function by destroying healthful
bacteria as well as harmful ones. For instance, humans with depleted levels of
Butyricicoccus pullicaecorum in their intestines have higher rates of chronic bowel diseases
like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Research into how these microorganisms has
exploded in recent years, particularly regarding how they interact with human chemistry to
regulate our hormones, our blood sugar, and even our mood.

11. This passage primarily serves to …

A. examine several specific ecosystems that are currently dominated by scavengers
and discuss ways of preserving those ecosystems.
B. explore various ways in which scavengers can be beneficial to different ecosystems
that are relevant to humans.
C. explain how scavengers acquire intelligent behaviour through a long evolutionary
process involving interaction with humans.
D. discuss the ways that humans can exploit the beneficial behaviours of scavengers
while avoiding the diseases that they spread.
E. describe the effects of exploitation and provide solution of plastic waste
management.

12. In paragraph 3, “perspicacious” is used to describe scavengers that can …

A. avoid predation by humans.
B. decompose complex hydrocarbons.
C. distinguish nutritious waste from toxic waste.
D. develop mutually beneficial social relationships.
E. kill bacteria from the waste.
13. The passage indicates that the social intelligence of scavengers enables them to …
A. track increasingly elusive prey.
B. find more nutritious food sources.
C. avoid predation by clever hunters.
D. protect their food supply.
E. make ally for fighting

14. As used in paragraph 3, “complex” most nearly means …

A. large and intricate.
B. obscure and bewildering.
C. delicate and complicated.
D. convoluted and unfathomable.
E. elusive and defensive.

15. As used in paragraph 3, “encourage” most nearly means …

A. inspire.
B. goad.
C. invigorate.
D. persuade.
E. improve

16. The passage indicates that one hurdle to using microorganisms extensively to degrade
plastic waste is that …
A. they may produce toxic chemicals as a by-product.
B. they are not common to the most highly polluted ecosystems.
C. their populations are not easily controlled by environmentalists.
D. they compete with other biodegrading scavengers.
E. the people are less educated about the benefits of using such organisms.

17. The word “they” in the last sentence refers to …

A. Humans
B. Intestines
C. Diseases
D. Microorganisms
E. Antibiotics

18. What is the tone of the passage?

A. Emotional
B. Cynical
C. Critical
D. Humorous
E. Encouraging

19. How does the author organize the passage?

A. Specific details followed by evidences
 B. Providing timeline sequence
C. Generalizing ideas followed by supporting details
D. Explaining the factors and the effects of the issue
E. Describing the current issue and projecting the future condition

20. The last paragraph serves mainly to …

A. indicate additional benefits that scavenger bacteria provide by describing how they
support vital biological functions in humans.
B. provide another example of the benefits provided by microscopic scavengers by
describing how bacteria enable researchers to develop better antibiotics.
C. draw a contrast to the previous discussion about the benefits of bacteria by
describing some of the potential dangers of infection.
D. demonstrate how our fear of bacteria prevents us from taking full advantage of the
medicinal benefits of microorganisms.
E. add the other supporting evidences of how bacteria is used in decomposing waste.