Multiple Choice Reading

Child Rearing

For centuries, no-one gave kids a second thought. At least, that was the belief of French social historian Philippe Aries, who in the 1960s put forward the startling proposal that childhood was a relatively recent invention. According to Aries and his disciples, children in the Middle Ages were considered mini-adults, no cuter or more fragile than the full-sized version, and therefore deserving of no special treatment. Not until the 17th and 18th centuries were they recognized as endearing little creatures in need of nurturing and protection. Harvard University professor Steven Ozment presents a very different picture in his 2001 book Ancestors Marshaling evidence ranging from legal records to private letters, Ozment argues persuasively that men and women throughout history have cherished their offspring. But there's no doubt we are clingier than we used to be."In 18th century Western Europe, wealthy families routinely sent their infants away to be raised by wet nurses for the first several years of their lives. Well, into the 20th century, British couples who could afford to do so opted out of day-to-day childrearing altogether, gladly handing their kids to nannies and boarding schools."

• endearing adjective UK /ɪnˈdɪə.rɪŋ/ US /ɪnˈdɪr.ɪŋ/ making someone like you
• nurturing verb [ T ] UK /ˈnɜː.tʃər/ US /ˈnɝː.tʃɚ/ to take care of, feed, and protect someone or something, especially young children or plants, and help him, her, or it to develop
• cherished adjective US /ˈtʃer·ɪʃt/ bringing the pleasure of love or caring about someone or something that is important to you
• offspring noun [ C ] UK /ˈɒf.sprɪŋ/ US /ˈɑːf.sprɪŋ/ the young of an animal / a person's children
• clingier
• clingy adjective UK /ˈklɪŋ.i/ US /ˈklɪŋ.i/ used to describe something that sticks onto someone or something tightly
• routinely adverb UK /ruːˈtiːn.li/ US /ruːˈtiːn.li/ used for describing what often or usually happen
• infant noun UK /ˈɪn.fənt/ US /ˈɪn.fənt/ a baby or a very young child
• nanny noun [ C ] UK /ˈnæn.i/ US /ˈnæn.i/ a person whose job is to take care of a particular family's children

Instant noodles

In 1958 instant noodles went on the market, yellowish wormy bricks in cellophane bags, and were laughed at by fresh-noodle makers all over Japan. They were just a high-tech craze, costing six times as much as the fresh stuff; they would never catch on. By the end of the first year, Momofuku Ando had sold 13m bags and had attracted a dozen competitors. He never looked back. The Japanese voted instant noodles their most important 20th century invention, Sony Walkmans notwithstanding. Mr. Ando's firm, Nissin, became a 3 billion global enterprise.

Read the text and answer the question by selecting all the correct responses. You will need to select more than one response.

• yellowish adjective UK /ˈjel.əʊ.ɪʃ/ US /ˈjel.oʊ.ɪʃ/ slightly yellow
• wormy adjective UK /ˈwɜː.mi/ US /ˈwɝː.mi/ containing worms, or infected or damaged by worms
• cellophane noun [ U ] trademark UK /ˈsel.ə.feɪn/ US /ˈsel.ə.feɪn/ a brand name for a thin, quite stiff, transparent material used for covering goods, especially flowers and food
• craze noun [ C usually singular ] UK /kreɪz/ US /kreɪz/ an activity, object, or idea that is extremely popular, usually for a short time
• notwithstanding preposition, adverb formal UK /ˌnɒt.wɪðˈstæn.dɪŋ/ US /ˌnɑːt.wɪðˈstæn.dɪŋ/ despite the fact or thing mentioned / not considering or being influenced by

Power Resources

The distribution of power resources in the contemporary information age varies greatly on different issues. We are told that the United States is the only superpower in a unipolar world. But the situation is far more complex than first meets the eye. The agenda of world politics has become like a three-dimensional chess game in which one can win only by playing vertically as well as horizontally. On the top board of classic interstate military issues, the United States is indeed the only superpower with global military reach, and it makes sense to speak in traditional terms of unipolarity or hegemony. However, on the middle board of interstate economic issues, the distribution of power is multipolar. The United States cannot obtain the outcomes it wants on trade, antitrust, or financial regulation issues without the agreement of the European Union, Japan, China and others. It makes little sense to call this American hegemony, and on the bottom board of transnational issues like terrorism, international crime, climate change, and the spread of infectious diseases, power is widely distributed and chaotically organized among state and non-state actors. It makes no sense to call this a unipolar world or an American empire. Read the text and answer the question by selecting all the correct responses. You will need to select more than one response.

• unipolar adjective
  • specialized UK /ˈjuː.nɪˌpəʊ.lər/ US /ˈjuː.nɪˌpoʊ.lɚ/ relating to or experiencing periods of either depression or mania but not both
  • POLITICS in which only one country or area has power
• interstate adjective [ before noun ] UK /ˌɪn.təˈsteɪt/ US /ˈɪn.t̬ɚ.steɪt/ involving two or more of the states into which some countries such as the US are divided:
• unipolarity
• hegemony noun [ U ] POLITICS formal UK /hɪˈɡem.ə.ni/ /hɪˈdʒem.ə.ni/ /ˈheɡ.ɪ.mə.ni/ /ˈhedʒ.ɪ.mə.ni/ US /hɪˈdʒem.ə.ni/ /ˈhedʒ.ə.moʊ.ni/ (especially of countries) the position of being the strongest and most powerful and therefore able to control others
• antitrust adjective [ before noun ] LAW, FINANCE & ECONOMICS specialized UK /ˌæn.tiˈtrʌst/ US /ˌæn.t̬iˈtrʌst/ relating to efforts to prevent companies from working together to control prices unfairly or to create a monopoly (= a single company or group of companies that is the only supplier of something)
• transnational adjective UK /ˌtrænzˈnæʃ.ən.əl/ US /ˌtrænzˈnæʃ.ən.əl/ involving several nations
• chaotically adverb UK /keɪˈɒt.ɪ.kəl.i/ US /keɪˈɑː.t̬ɪ.kəl.i/ in a confused way with no order

Information Fatigue Syndrome

Too much information can have negative effects on health and well-being, says psychologist David Lewis. He coined the phrase"Information Fatigue Syndrome" for the condition that, he says, is caused by unrelenting exposure to excessive information. He warns that businesses may even face litigation and financial liability for failing to protect employees from the health consequences of information overload.

• coin verb UK /kɔɪn/ US /kɔɪn/ coin verb (INVENT) to invent a new word or expression, or to use one in a particular way for the first time
• fatigue noun UK /fəˈtiːɡ/ US /fəˈtiːɡ/ fatigue noun (TIREDNESS/WEAKNESS) extreme tiredness
• syndrome noun UK /ˈsɪn.drəʊm/ US /ˈsɪn.droʊm/ a combination of medical problems that shows the existence of a particular disease or mental condition
• litigation litigation noun [ U ] LAW specialized UK /ˌlɪt.ɪˈɡeɪ.ʃən/ US /ˌlɪt̬.əˈɡeɪ.ʃən/
  • the process of taking a case to a court of law so that a judgment can be made
  • the process of taking an argument between people or groups to a court of law:
  • the process of causing a disagreement to be discussed in a court of law so that an official decision can be made about it
• liability noun UK /ˌlaɪ.əˈbɪl.ə.ti/ US /ˌlaɪ.əˈbɪl.ə.t̬i/ liability noun (RESPONSIBILITY)
  • the fact that someone is legally responsible for something
  • something or someone that causes you a lot of trouble, often when that thing or person should be helping you
  • the responsibility of a person, business, or organization to pay or give up something of value
  • the amount of money that a person or organization owes

Snow melt

Large forest fires have occurred more frequently in the western United States since the mid 1980s as spring temperatures increased, mountain snows melted earlier and summers got hotter, according to new research. Almost seven times more forested federal land burned during the 1987 2003 period than during the prior 17 years. In addition, large fires occurred about four times more often during the latter period. The research is the most systematic analysis to date of recent changes in forest fire activity in the western United States. The increases in fire extent and frequency are strongly linked to higher March-through-August temperatures and are most pronounced for mid-elevation forests in the northern Rocky Mountains. The new finding points to climate change, not fire suppression policies and forest fuel accumulation, as the primary driver of recent increases in large forest fires.

Dennett

Dennett recognizes that all human minds are shaped not only by natural selection but by enormous cultural influenced which effectively redesign our minds. He invites us to think of the conscious mind as consisting of those mental contents that win in competition against other mental contents in the battle for control of behavior. What we are is the organization of all the competitive activity between a host of competences that our bodies have developed. Consciousness is defined by what a mind can do whether it can concentrate, be distracted, recall earlier events, keep track of a number of things at once etc. Dennett urges us to resist the temptation to imagine animals as accompanying their clever activities with streams of reflective consciousness as we would. We may not know that they do not, but we certainly cannot assume that they do. He notes that the more we learn about clever activities in animals and how they are accomplished, the less the processes in their brains seem to resemble the thoughts we imagined were doing the work.

• conscious adjective UK /ˈkɒn.ʃəs/ US /ˈkɑːn.ʃəs/
  • conscious adjective (NOTICING) to notice that a particular thing or person exists or is present
  • conscious adjective (AWAKE) awake, thinking, and knowing what is happening around you
  • conscious adjective (INTENTIONAL) determined and intentional
  • conscious adjective (AWAKE) awake, aware of what is happening around you, and able to think
  • conscious adjective (NOTICING) noticing the existence of something
• competences noun [ C or U ] UK /ˈkɒm.pɪ.təns/ US /ˈkɑːm.pə.t̬əns/
  • the ability to do something well
  • an important skill that is needed to do a job
  • the power of a person, business, court, or government to deal with something or take legal decisions
• consciousness noun [ U ] UK /ˈkɒn.ʃəs.nəs/ US /ˈkɑːn.ʃəs.nəs/
  • the state of understanding and realizing something
  • the state of being awake, thinking, and knowing what is happening around you
• temptation noun UK /tempˈteɪ.ʃən/ US /tempˈteɪ.ʃən/
  • the wish to do or have something that you know you should not do or have
  • something that makes you want to do or have something that you know you should not
  • the desire to have or do something, esp. something wrong, or something that causes this desire

3D Printing

With the help of their latest invention in science a 3D printer, researchers managed to create the exact copy of a man's thumb bones. The device can now be used to help surgeons restore damaged bones by creating their precise copies, which are made from the patient's cells. The new method implies a number of steps. Initially, it is important to have a 3D image of the bone that is going to be copied. In case the bone has been damaged, one can create a mirror image of the bone's intact twin. Afterwards the picture of the bone is inserted into a 3D inject printer that puts thin layers of a material( selected beforehand) on top of one another till the 3D object shows up. After successfully replicating a bone, the copy itself features small pores on its"scaffolds". This is where bone cells can eventually settle, grow and then completely displace the biodegradable scaffold. Scientists removed CD117 cells from bone marrow that remained after hip-replacement surgical operations. These cells develop into primordial bone cells, also known as osteoblasts. The latter were syringed on top of the bone scaffolds in a gel that was created to nourish the CD117 cells as well as support them. In the final step, scientists sew scaffolds under the skin on the backs of laboratory mice. After 15 weeks the scaffold had turned into human bone.

• intact adjective UK /ɪnˈtækt/ US /ɪnˈtækt/ complete and in the original state
• pores noun [ C ] UK /pɔːr/ /pɔːr/ a very small hole in the skin of people or other animals, or a similar hole on the surface of plants or rocks
• marrow noun UK /ˈmær.əʊ/ US /ˈmer.oʊ/ soft tissue containing a lot of fat in the centre of a bone
• primordial adjective formal UK /praɪˈmɔː.di.əl/ US /praɪˈmɔːr.di.əl/ existing at or since the beginning of the world or the universe
• osteoblasts noun [ C ] ANATOMY specialized UK/ˈɒs.ti.əʊ.blɑːst/ US/ˈɑː.sti.oʊ.blæst/ a cell that forms bone
• syringed noun [ C ] UK /sɪˈrɪndʒ/ US /səˈrɪndʒ/ a hollow, cylinder-shaped piece of equipment used for sucking liquid out of something or pushing liquid into something, especially one with a needle that can be put under the skin and used to inject drugs, remove small amounts of blood, etc.
• gel noun UK /dʒel/ US /dʒel/a thick, clear, liquid substance, especially one used on the hair or body
• nourish nourish verb [ T ] UK /ˈnʌr.ɪʃ/ US /ˈnɝː.ɪʃ/ to provide people or living things with food in order to make them grow and keep them healthy

Snow Slide

Now, Osvanny Ramos of the Ecole Normale Suprieure in Lyon, France, and colleagues say prediction is possible after all. They designed an experiment that induced avalanches in a two-dimensional pile of 4 millimetre-diameter steel beads. They placed a 60 centimetre row of randomly spaced beads between two parallel, vertical glass plates 4.5 millimetres apart, with the beads glued to the bottom to simulate the ground under a natural pile. Then they dropped in one bead at a time, creating piles of up to 55, 000 beads. After each drop, the team photographed the pile and measured the position of each bead to calculate the"space factor" a measure of the disorder in the system, which was related to the space surrounding each bead( see diagram). The greater the disorder round a bead, the more likely an avalanche was. If one or more beads moved when a new bead fell on the pile, that was considered to be an avalanche. An extra-large avalanche involved between 317 and 1000 beads. The researchers found that if the space factor before a bead dropped was greater than it had been 50 steps earlier, they could predict an extra-large avalanche with 64 percent accuracy. Ramos says that they can improve the odds by analysing more information, such as the size of the pile( Physical Review Letters, vol 102, p 078701). The work could also have important consequences for predicting earthquakes. Ramos has an inkling why forecasting earthquakes is so difficult: seismologist tend to use information about the time and size of events, known as a time series. However, Ramos found that this didn't help predict the next big avalanche."When seismologists try to predict earthquakes, they analyse the time series," he says. He argues that they would have more success analysing data analogous to the internal disorder in the pile of beads.

• avalanches noun [ C ] UK /ˈæv.əl.ɑːntʃ/ US /ˈæv.əl.æntʃ/
  • a large amount of ice, snow, and rock falling quickly down the side of a mountain
  • too many things that arrive or happen at the same time
• bead noun [ C ] UK /biːd/ US /biːd/
  • bead noun [C] (JEWELLERY) a small, coloured, often round piece of plastic, wood, glass, etc. with a hole through it. It is usually put on a string with a lot of others to make jewellery
  • a very small amount of liquid
• inkling noun [ C usually singular, U ] UK /ˈɪŋ.klɪŋ/ US /ˈɪŋ.klɪŋ/
  • a feeling that something is true or likely to happen, although you are not certain
• seismologist noun [ C ] UK /saɪzˈmɒl.ə.dʒɪst/ US /saɪzˈmɑː.lə.dʒɪst/ someone who studies the sudden, violent movements of the earth connected with earthquakes
• analogous adjective UK /əˈnæl.ə.ɡəs/ US /əˈnæl.ə.ɡəs/ having similar features to another thing and therefore able to be compared with it

Australian higher education funding

Financing of Australian higher education has undergone dramatic change since the early 1970s. Although the Australian Government provided regular funding for universities from the late 1950s, in 1974, it assumed full responsibility for funding higher education abolishing tuition fees with the intention of making university accepted to all Australians who had the ability and who wished to participate in higher education. Since the late 1980s, there has been a move towards greater private contributions, particularly students fees. In 1989, the Australian Government introduced the Higher Education Contribution Scheme( HECS) which included a loans scheme to help students finance their contributions. This enabled universities to remain accessible to students by delaying their payments until they could afford to pay off their loans. In 2002, the Australian Government introduced a scheme similar to HECS for postgraduate students the Postgraduate Education Loan Scheme( PELS).

• abolish verb [ T ] UK /əˈbɒl.ɪʃ/ US /əˈbɑː.lɪʃ/ to end an activity or custom officially

Carbon Detox

In his fascinating book Carbon Detox, George Marshall argues that people are not persuaded by information. Our views are formed by the views of the people with whom we mix. Of the narratives that might penetrate these circles, we are more likely to listen to those that offer us some reward. A story that tells us that the world is cooking and that we'll have to make sacrifices for the sake of future generations is less likely to be accepted than the more rewarding idea that climate change is a conspiracy hatched by scheming governments and venal scientists, and that strong, independent-minded people should unite to defend their freedoms. He proposes that instead of arguing for sacrifice, environmentalists should show where the rewards might lie: that understanding what the science is saying and planning accordingly is the smart thing to do, which will protect your interests more effectively than flinging abuse at scientists. We should emphasize the old-fashioned virtues of uniting in the face of a crisis, of resourcefulness and community action. Projects like the transition town's network and proposals for a green new deal tell a story which people are more willing to hear.

• detox noun [ S or U ] UK /ˈdiː.tɒks/ US /ˈdiː.tɑːks/ a period when you stop taking unhealthy or harmful foods, drinks, or substances into your body for a period of time, in order to improve your health:
• penetrate verb UK /ˈpen.ɪ.treɪt/ US /ˈpen.ə.treɪt/
  • penetrate verb (MOVE INTO) to move into or through something
  • to succeed in becoming part of an organization, etc. and working within it
• sake noun UK /seɪk/ US /seɪk/
  • for the sake of someone/for someone's sake: in order to help or bring advantage to someone
  • for the sake of something/for something's sake: because of, or for the purpose of something
• conspiracy noun [ C or U ] UK /kənˈspɪr.ə.si/ US /kənˈspɪr.ə.si/
  • the activity of secretly planning with other people to do something bad or illegal
  • a secret plan made by two or more people to do something bad, illegal, or against someone’s wishes
• venal adjective formal UK /ˈviː.nəl/ US /ˈviː.nəl/
  • A venal person is willing to behave in a way that is not honest or moral in exchange for money
  • A venal activity is done in order to get money
• unite verb [ I or T ] UK /juːˈnaɪt/ US /juːˈnaɪt/ to join together as a group, or to make people join together as a group; to combine
• defend verb UK /dɪˈfend/ US /dɪˈfend/ defend verb (PROTECT)
  • to protect someone or something against attack or criticism
  • to speak or write in support of someone or something
• fling verb UK /flɪŋ/ US /flɪŋ/ flung | flung
  • to throw something or someone suddenly and with a lot of force
  • to move or do something quickly and energetically
• virtue noun UK /ˈvɜː.tʃuː/ US /ˈvɝː.tʃuː/ virtue noun (GOOD MORALS) a good moral quality in a person, or the general quality of being morally good

Poverty

Measuring poverty on a global scale requires establishing a uniform poverty level across extremely divergent economies, which can result in only rough comparisons. The World Bank has defined the international poverty line as U. S. 1 and 2 per day in 1993 Purchasing Power Parity( PPP), which adjusts for differences in the prices of goods and services between countries. The 1 per day level is generally used for the least developed countries, primarily African, the 2 per-day level is used for middle-income economies such as those of East Asia and Latin America.