Pulling string to build pyramids

PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 158 below.
Pulling string to build pyramids
No one knows exactly how- the pyramids were built. Marcus Chown reckons the answer could be ‘hanging in the air’
The pyramids of Egypt were built more than three thousand years ago, and no one knows how. The conventional picture is that tens .of thousands of slaves dragged stones on sledges. But there is no evidence to back this up. Now a Californian software consultant called Maureen Clemmons has suggested that kites might have been- involved. While perusing a book on the monuments of Egypt, she noticed a hieroglyph that showed a row of men standing in odd postures. They were holding what looked like ropes that led, via some kind of mechanical system, to a giant bird in the sky. She wondered if perhaps the bird was actually a giant kite, and the men were using it to lift a heavy object.
Intrigued, Clemmons contacted Morteza Gharib, aeronautics professor at the California Institute of Technology. He was fascinated by the idea. ‘Coming from Iran, I have a keen interest in Middle Eastern science/ he says. He too was puzzled by the picture that had sparked Clemmons’s interest. The object in the sky apparently had wings far too short and wide for a bird ‘The possibility certainly existed that it was a kite/ he says. And since he needed a summer project for his student Emilio Graff, investigating the possibility of using kites as heavy lifters seemed like a good idea.
Gharib and Graff set themselves the task of raising a 4.5-metre stone column from horizontal to vertical, using no source of energy except the wind. Their initial calculations and scale-model wind-tunnel experiments convinced them they wouldn’t need a strong wind to lift the 33.5-tonne column. Even a modest force, if sustained over a long lime, rose, the base would roll across the ground on a trolley.
Earlier this year, the team put Clemmons’s unlikely theory to the test, using a 40-square- meter rectangular nylon sail. The kite lifted the column clean off the ground. ‘We were absolutely stunned/ Gharib says. The instant the sail opened into the wind, a huge force was generated and the column was raised to the vertical in a mere 40 seconds.’
The wind was blowing at a gentle 16 to 20 kilometers an hour, little more than half what they thought would be needed. What they had failed to reckon with was what happened when the kite was opened. There was a huge initial force – five times larger than the steady state force/ Gharib says. This jerk meant that kites could lift huge weights, Gharib realised. Even a 300-tonne column could have been lifted to the vertical with 40 or so men and four or five sails. So Clemmons was right: the pyramid builders could have used kites to lift massive stones into place. ‘Whether they actually did is another matter,’ Gharib says. There are no pictures showing the construction of the pyramids, so there is no way to tell what really happened. The evidence for using kites to move large stones is no better or worse than the evidence for the brute force method/ Gharib says.
Indeed, the experiments triage left many specialists unconvinced. The evidence for kite- lifting is non-existent/ says Wallace Wendrich, an associate professor of Egyptology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Other feel there is more of a case for the theory. Harnessing the wind would not have been a problem for accomplished sailors like the Egyptians. And they are known to have used wooden pulleys, which could have been made strong enough to bear the weight of massive blocks of stone. In addition, there is some physical evidence that the ancient Egyptians were interested in flight. A wooden artifact found on the step pyramid at Saqqara looks uncannily like a modern glider. Although it dates from several hundred years after the building of the pyramids, its sophistication suggests that the Egyptians might have been developing ideas of flight for a long time. And other ancient civilisations certainly knew about kites; as early as 1250 BC, the Chinese were using them to deliver messages and dump flaming debris on their foes.
The experiments might even have practical uses nowadays. There are plenty of places around the globe where people have no access to heavy machinery, but do know how to deal with, wind, sailing and basic mechanical principles. Gharib has already been contacted by a civil engineer in Nicaragua, who wants to put up buildings with adobe roofs supported by concrete arches on a site that heavy equipment can’t reach. His idea is to build the arches horizontally, then lift them into place using kites. ‘We’ve given him some design hints/ says Gharib. ‘We’re just waiting for him to report back.’ So whether they were actually used to build the pyramids or not, it seems that kites may make sensible construction tools in the 21st century AD.
Questions1-7
Do the following statement with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-7 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. It is generally believed that large numbers of people were needed to build the pyramids.
2. Clemmons found a strange hieroglyph on the wall of an Egyptian monument.
3. Gharib had previously done experiments on bird flight.
4. Ghari band Graff tested their theory before applying it.
5. The success of the actual experiment was due to the high speed of the wind.
6. They found that, as the kite flew higher, the wind force got stronger.
7. The team decided that it was possible to use kites to raise very heavy stones.
Questions 8-13
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN WORDS from the passage for each answer
Write your answers in boxes 8-13 your answer sheet.
Addition evidence for theory of kite lifting
The Egyptians had 8, which couldlift large pieces of 9.., and they knew how to use the energy of the wind from their skill as 10. The discovery on one pyramid of an object which resembled a 11..suggests they may have experimented with 12 .. . In addition, over two thousand years ago kites used in china as weapons, as well as for sending 13
PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26. which are based on Reading Passage 2 on the following pages.
Questions 14-19
Reading Passage 156 has seven sections, A-G.
Choose the correct headings for sections A-F from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.
____________________________________________________________
List of Headings
i The results of the research into blood-variants
ii Dental evidence
iii Greenberg’s analysis of the dental and linguistic evidence
iv Developments in the methods used to study early population movements
v Indian migration from Canada to the U.S.A.
vi Further genetic evidence relating to the three-wave theory
vii Long-standing questions about prehistoric migration to America
viii Conflicting views of the three-wave theory, based on non-genetic Evidence
ix Questions about the causes of prehistoric migration to America
x How analysis of blood-variants measures the closeness of the relationship
between different populations
_____________________________________________________________
14. Section  A
15. Section  B
16. Section  C
17. Section  D
18.  Section  E
19.  Section  F
Example          Answer
Section G             viii
Population movements and genetics
A. Study of the origins and distribution of hum on populations used to be based on archaeological and fossil evidence. A number of techniques developed since the 1950s however have placed the study of these subjects on a sounder and more objective footing. The best information on early population movements is now being obtained from the archaeology of the living body the clues to be found in genetic material.
B. Recent work on the problem of when people first entered the Americas is an example of the value of these new techniques. North-east Asia and Siberia have long been accepted as the launching ground for the first human colonisers of the New World1. But was there one major wave of migration across the Bering Strait into the Americas, or several? And when did this event, or events, take place? In recent years, new clues hove come from research into genetics, including the distribution of genetic markers in modern Native Americans2.
C. An important project, led by the biological anthropologist Robert Williams, focused on the variants (called Gm all types) of one particular protein – immunologic G – found in the fluid portion of human blood. All proteins ‘drift’, or produce variants, over the generations, and members of an interbreeding human population will share a set of such variants. Thus, by comparing the Gm allotypes of two different populations (e.g. two Indian tribes), one can establish their genetic distance, which itself can be calibrated to give an indication of the length of time since these populations last interbred.
D. Williams and his colleagues sampled the blood of over 5,000 American Indians in western North America during a twenty- year period. They found that their Gm allotypes could be divided into two groups, one of which also corresponded to the genetic typing of Central and South American Indians. Other tests showed that the Inuit (or Eskimo) and Aleut3 formed a third group. From this evidence it was deduced that there had been three major waves of migration across the Bering Strait. The first, Paleo – Indian wave more than 15,000 years ago was ancestral to all Central and South American Indians. The second wave, about 14,000-12,000 years ago, brought No-Dene hunters ancestors of the Navajo and Apache (who only migrated south from Canada about 600 or 700 years ago). The third wave perhaps 10,000 or 9,000 years ago saw the migration from North-east Asia of groups ancestral to the modem Eskimo and Aleut.
E. How far does other research support these conclusions? Geneticist Douglas Wallace has studied mitochondrial DNA4 in blood samples from three widely separated Native American groups: Pima- Papa go Indians in Arizona, Maya Indians on the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, and  Ticuna Indians in the Upper Amazon region of Brazil. As would have been predicted by Robert Williams’s work, all three groups appear to be descended from the same ancestral (Paleo-Indian) population.
F. There are two other kinds of research that have thrown some light on the origins of the Native American population; they involve the study of teeth and of languages. The biological anthropologist Christy Turner is on expert in the analysis of changing physical characteristics in human teeth. He argues that tooth crowns and roots5 have a high genetic component, minimally affected by environmental and other factors. Studies carried out by Turner of many thousands of New and Old World specimens, both ancient and modern, suggest ‘hot the majority of prehistoric Americans are linked to Northern Asian populations by crown and root traits such as incisor6 shoveling (a scooping out on one or both surfaces of the tooth), single-rooted upper first premolars6 and triple-rooted lower first molars6.
According to Turner, this ties in with the idea of a single Paleo-Indian migration out of North Asia, which he sets at before 14,000 years ago by calibrating rates of dental micro-evolution. Tooth analyses also suggest that there were two later migrations of Na-Denes and Eskimo- Aleut.
G. The linguist Joseph Greenberg has, since the 1950s, argued that all Native American languages belong to a single Amerind family, except for No-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut – a view that gives credence to the idea of three main migrations. Greenberg is in a minority among fellow linguists, most of whom favor the no I on of a great money waves of migration to account for the more than 1,000 – languages spoken at one time by American Indians. But there is no doubt that the new genetic and dental evidence provides strong backing for Greenberg’s view. Dates given for the migrations should nevertheless be treated with caution, except where supported by hard archaeological evidence.
1. New World: the American continent, as opposed to the so-called Old World of Europe, Asia and Africa
2. Modern Native America: an American descended from the groups that were native to America
3. Inuit and Aleut: two of the ethnic groups native to the northern region of North America (i.e. northern Canada and Greenland)
4. DNA: the substance in which genetic information is stored
5. Crown/ Root:  Parts of the tooth
6. incisor/premolar/molar:  kinds of teeth
Questions 20 and 21
The discussion of Williams’s research indicates the periods at which early people are thought to have migrated along certain routes.
There are six routes, A-F, marked on the map below.
Complete the table below.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 20 and 21 on your answer sheet.
Route                            Period (number of years ago)
20                         15,000 or more
21                          600 to 700
Early Population Movement to the Americas
Questions 22-25
Reading Passage 2refers to the three-wave theory of early migration to the Americas. It also suggests in which of these three waves the ancestors of various groups of modern native Americans first reached the continent.
Classify the groups named in the table below as originating from
A.   the first wave
B.   the second wave
C.  the third wave
Write the correct letter. A. B or C. in boxes 22-25 on your answer sheet.
Name of Group
Wave Number
Inuil
 22 
Apache
 23 
Pima-Papago
 24 ..
Ticuna
 25 
Question 26
Choose the correct letter. A. B. C or D.
Write the correct letter in box 26 on your answer sheet.
Christy Turner’s research involved the examination of .
A. teeth from both prehistoric and modern Americans and Asians
B. thousands of people who live in either the New or the Old World
C. dental specimens from the majority of prehistoric Americans
D. the eating habits of American and Asian populations
PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40. which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.
Forests are one of the main elements of our natural heritage. The decline of Europe’s forests over the last decade and a half has led to an increasing awareness and understanding of the serious imbalances which threaten them. European countries are becoming increasingly concerned by major threats to European forests, threats which know no frontiers other than those of geography or climate: air pollution, soil deterioration, the increasing number of forest fires and sometimes even the mismanagement of our woodland and forest heritage. There has been a growing awareness of the need for countries to get together to co-ordinate their policies. In December 1990, Strasbourg hosted the first Ministerial Conference on the protection of Europe’s forests. The conference brought together 31 countries from both Western and Eastern Europe. The topics discussed included the co-ordinate study of the destruction of forests, as well as how to combat forest fires and the extension of European research programs on the forest ecosystem. The preparatory work for the conference had been undertaken at two meetings of experts. Their initial task was to decide which of the many forest problems of concern to Europe involved the largest number of countries and might be the subject of joint action. Those confined to particular geographical areas, such as countries bordering the Mediterranean or the Nordic countries therefore had to be discarded. However, this does not mean that in future they will be ignored.
As a whole, European countries see forests as performing a triple function: biological, economic and recreational. The first is to act as a ‘green lung’ for our planet; by means of photosynthesis, forests produce oxygen through the transformation of solar energy, thus fulfilling what for humans is the essential role of an immense, non-polluting power plant. At the same time, forests provide raw materials for human activities through their constantly renewed production of wood. Finally, they offer those condemned to spend five days a week in an urban environment an unrivalled area of freedom to unwind and take part in a range of leisure activities, such as hunting, riding and hiking. The economic importance of forests has been understood since the dawn of man – wood was the first fuel. The other aspects have been recognised only for a few centuries but they are becoming more and more important. Hence, there is a real concern throughout Europe about the damage to the forest environment which threatens these three basic roles.
The myth of the ‘natural’ forest has survived, yet there are effectively no remaining ‘primary’ forests in Europe. All European forests are artificial, having been adapted and exploited by man for thousands of years. This means that a forest policy is vital, that it must transcend national frontiers and generations of people, and that ft must allow for the inevitable changes that take place in the forests, in needs, and hence in policy. The Strasbourg conference was one of the first events on such a scale to reach this conclusion. A general declaration was made that ‘a central place in any ecologically coherent forest policy must be given to continuity over time and to the possible effects of unforeseen events, to ensure that the full potential of these forests is maintained’.
That general declaration was accompanied by six detailed resolutions to 3ssist national policymaking. The first proposes the extension and systematic sitter of surveillance sites to monitor forest decline. Forest decline is still poorly understood but leads to the loss of a high proportion of a tree’s needles or leaves. The entire continent and the majority of species are now affected: between 30% and 50% of the tree population. The condition appears to result from the cumulative effect of a number of factors, with atmospheric pollutants the principal culprits. Compounds of nitrogen and sulphur dioxide should be particularly closely watched. However, their effects are probably accentuated by climatic factors, such as drought and hard winters, or soil imbalances such as soil acidification, which damages to roots. The second resolution concentrates on the need to preserve the genetic diversity of European forests. The aim is to reverse the decline in the number of tree species or at least to preserve the ‘genetic material’ of all of them. Although forest fires do not affect all of Europe to the same extent the amount of damage caused the experts to propose as the third resolution that the Strasbourg conference consider the establishment of a European databank on the subject. All information used in the development of national preventative policies would become generally available. The subject of the fourth resolution discussed by the ministers was mountain forests. In Europe, it is undoubtedly the mountain ecosystem which has changed most rapidly and is most at risk. A thinly scattered permanent population and development of. leisure activities, particularly skiing, have resulted in significant long-term changes to the local ecosystems. Proposed developments include a preferential research program on mountain forests. The fifth resolution relented the European research network on the physiology of trees, called  Euro Silva should support joint European research on tree diseases and their physiological and biochemical aspects. Each country concerned could increase “the number of scholarships and other financial support for doctoral theses and research projects in this area, finally, the conference established the framework for a European research network on forest ecosystems. This would also involve harmonizing activities in individual countries as well as identifying a number of priority research topics relating to the protection of forests The Strasbourg conference’s main concern was to provide for the future. This was the initial motivation, one now shared by all 31 participants representing 31 European countries. Their final text commits them to on-going discussion between government representatives with responsibility for forests.
Questions 27-33
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes 27-33 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
27. Forest problems of Mediterranean countries are to be discussed at the next meeting of experts.
28. Problems in Nordic countries were excluded because they are outside the European – Economic Community.
29. Forests are a renewable source of raw material.
30. The biological functions of forests were recognised only in the twentieth century.
31. Natural forests still exist in parts of Europe.
32. Forest policy should be limited by national boundaries.
33. The Strasbourg conference decided that a forest policy must allow for the possibility of change.
Questions 34-39
Look at the following statements issued by the conference.
Which six of the following statements. A-J, refer to the resolutions that were issued?
Match the statements with the appropriate resolutions (Questions 34-39).
Write the correct letter. A-J. in boxes 34-39 on your answer sheet.
A. All kinds of species of trees should be preserved.
B.  Fragile mountain forests should be given priority in research programs.
C.  The surviving natural forests of Europe do not need priority treatment.
D.  Research is to be better co-ordinate throughout Europe:
E.  Information on forest fires should be collected and shared.
F.  Loss Of leaves from trees should be more extensively and carefully monitored
G.  Resources should be allocated to research into tree diseases.
H.  Skiing should be encouraged in thinly populated areas.
I.  Soil imbalances such as acidification should be treated with compounds of nitrogen and sulphur.
J.  Information is to be systematically gathered on any decline in the condition of forests.
34.  Resolution 1
35.  Resolution 2
36.  Resolution 3
37.  Resolution 4
38.  Resolution 5
39.  Resolution 6
Question 40
Choose the correct letter, A. B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet
40.  What is the best title for Reading Passage 3?
A  The biological, economic and recreational role of forests
B  Plans to protect the forests of Europe
C The priority of European research into ecosystems
D Proposals for a world-wide policy on forest management
Answer:
1 TRUE
2 FALSE
3 NOT GIVEN
4 TRUE
5 FALSE
6 NOT GIVEN
7 TRUE
8 (wooden) pulleys
9 stone
10 (accomplished) sailors
11 (modern) glider
12 flight
13 messages
Answer:
14 iv
15 vii
16 x
17 i
18 vi
19 ii
20 E
21 D
22 C
23 B
24 A
25 A
26 A
Answer:
27 NOT GIVEN
28 FALSE
29 TRUE
30 FALSE
31 FALSE
32 FALSE
33 TRUE
34 J
35 A
36 E
37 B
38 G
39 D
40 B