TEST 1

Read the text below and answer Questions 1-7.

Beyond Web Decorations: A Spider's Arsenal of

Lures

While many spiders wait for their web to ensnare prey wandering by,
other spiders don’t leave their meals up to chance. These arachnids
have subtle techniques to lure prey out of their comfort zone and into a
trap.
“It’s really a sensory world” for both spiders and their prey, says Pierre-
Olivier Montiglio, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Québec at
Montréal. “Everybody's constantly eavesdropping and signalling,
producing information and communicating it in some way or another.”
Spiders take advantage of this by using their looks, scent, and touch to
trick gullible invertebrates straight into their eight arms.

Webs don’t need to be beautiful to be functional and capture food. But

the intricacy of some spiders’ webs, like that of the orb-weaver spiders in
the genus Argiope, plays a key role in luring prey to their doom.
Both in the field and in a laboratory setting, scientists have found that
webs with more thick white silk band designs in the center hub are more
attractive to some prey. The bands serve as decorations that reflect
ultraviolet rays which insects are attracted to, according to Mariella
Herberstein, a behavioral ecologist at Macquarie University.
The webs themselves are attractive to prey even in the dark, research
shows. When testing the webs of Psechrus clavis spiders at night,
researchers found that darkening the silk strands made them less
attractive to insects flying by. In dark environments, more intricate webs
showed they could capture what little light was available, the study
shows.
There’s variation in this technique, though, and data suggests decisions
about web decorations are strategic. “Some spiders build decorations,
and then if they have to build a new web, they might not decorate it
again or they might decorate it more or less,” says Tom Ratz, a
behavioral ecologist at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich. For
instance, when there were cues of a lot of predatory birds in the
environment, spiders were shown to tone down their decor, indicating
web design was not random.

While intricate web decorations are a fascinating example of a spider's

deceptive tactics, they represent just one weapon in a diverse arsenal.
These clever predators employ a range of sensory manipulations to
entice unsuspecting prey. Certain spider species, like the bolas spider,
weave a single silken line with a sticky droplet at the end. This "bolas"
becomes a potent olfactory trap. The spider releases a cocktail of
pheromones, mimicking the sex attractants of female moths. Drawn by
this irresistible chemical signal, male moths blunder into the sticky trap,
becoming a quick meal. Some spiders, like the jumping spider Plexippus
paykulli, have mastered the art of disguise. These opportunistic hunters
take advantage of their excellent eyesight to actively stalk their prey.
They can even change their body color to blend in with their
surroundings, becoming nearly invisible to unsuspecting insects. Active
hunting spiders, like wolf spiders, rely on a combination of speed and
surprise. They possess excellent vision and are agile runners, capable of
chasing down their prey across the ground. Their keen senses allow
them to detect even the faintest vibrations, pinpointing the location of
their next meal.

The diverse tactics employed by spiders highlight the remarkable

evolutionary adaptations that have allowed them to thrive as top
predators in a multitude of ecosystems. Orb-webbing spiders of the
genus Cyrtophora sometimes engage in a curious ritual. They pluck a
specific strand of their web, creating a rhythmic vibration. This
"thumping" sound mimics the struggling prey already caught in the web,
potentially attracting other insects to investigate – and become ensnared
themselves. Some orb-weaver spiders, like the Argiope bruennichi,
strategically place brightly colored stabilimenta – silk decorations – near
the center of their web. While initially thought to be purely decorative,
research suggests these may mimic the appearance of flowers,
attracting pollinators who then become entangled in the web. The
Myrmecophagous spider family has taken mimicry to a whole new level.
These spiders resemble ants, complete with ant-like body shapes and
movements. They cleverly infiltrate ant colonies, blending in with their
intended prey. Once close enough, they launch a surprise attack,
catching the unsuspecting ants off guard.

The ingenuity displayed by spiders in luring their prey showcases the

remarkable diversity of hunting strategies employed in the animal
kingdom. Their ability to manipulate their environment and exploit the
senses of their victims underscores the constant evolutionary arms race
between predator and prey. Understanding these captivating adaptations
allows us to appreciate the intricate web of life that exists around us.

Questions 1-7
Complete the sentences.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text in each gap.

1 Information is exchanged in a variety of ways in a world where

spiders and their prey are always listening in and _________.
2 The strands made by the Argiope genus of orb-weaver spiders
reflect _________ that attract specific insects.
3 Studies reveal that when the silk strands in a ________ spider's
web get darker, the spider's nighttime attractiveness decreases.
4 Spiders were demonstrated to reduce the amount of ______ they
had, suggesting that web design was not arbitrary when there were
signals of prey birds nearby.
5 The bolas spider lures its prey using a sticky droplet at the end of a
_______ , which acts as an olfactory trap.
6 The cunning jumping spiders actively pursue their quarry by
making use of their superior _______.
7 Because of their _______ evolution, myrmecophagous spiders can
sneak inside ant colonies and ambush their prey.
TEST 2

Read the text below and answer Questions 1-10.

Are we born good or evil? (naughty or nice)

Are we born with an innate moral compass or is it something we
develop as we grow?

Whether humans are born good or evil has been debated by

philosophers for centuries. Aristotle argued that morality is learned,

and that we’re born as “amoral creatures” while Sigmund Freud

considered new-borns a moral blank slate. Anyone who has read

“Lord of the Flies” will expect children to be fully-fledged sociopaths

just waiting to be freed from their adult-imposed shackles to

(spoiler alert) start a cult and brutally attempt to kill each other.

Maybe the two most famous opposing views on this debate are

those of Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Hobbes

describes humans as ‘nasty’ and ‘brutish’, needing society and

rules to reign in their instincts in order to thrive; later Rousseau

openly criticised him, arguing instead that man would be gentle and

pure without the corruption of greed and inequality caused by the

class system imposed by our society.

However, developmental psychology studies show there may be

some natural “good” in humanity (or, to be more technical, that at

least kids are capable of passing moral judgements at an earlier

age than previously thought).

To do this, babies less than a year old were made to watch a

puppet show where different coloured shapes acted in ways that

were clearly recognisable as morally right or wrong. A red circle is

shown struggling to climb a hill while an “evil” blue square tries to

push it back down. Meanwhile, “good” yellow triangle attempts to

help the red circle by pushing it up.

After the play, the babies were asked which shape they wanted to

play with: evil blue square or good yellow triangle. As you may

have guessed, they all picked the latter, the triangle that exhibited

‘helpful’ and ‘selfless’ behaviour. This applied even for babies as

young as seven months.

The scene replicates the findings of a 2010 study from the Infant

Cognition Center at Yale University, which went further to prove

that babies were choosing the puppets because of their actions

rather than other variables (for example, an innate preference or

familiarity with a certain colour or shape). When the show was

replayed with the shapes taking on the opposite role, the infants
still mostly chose the shape that had taken on the role of the

‘helper’.

A 2017 study from Kyoto University had a similar approach and

findings to the puppet study, seemingly confirming these results.

Children as young as six months were shown videos featuring

three Pacman-like characters, called ‘agents’: a ‘victim’, a ‘bully’

bumping aggressively against the victim and squashing it into a

wall, and a ‘third party’ agent. The third-party agent would

sometimes intervene to help the victim by putting itself between the

victim and the bully, and would sometimes flee instead. After

watching the video, children had to choose their preferred

character and most chose the intervening third-party agent who

had tried to help the victim.

Other studies have also shown babies exhibit altruistic behaviour,

like the ‘Big Mother Study’ from Harvard, where infants who didn’t

know they were being observed still acted kind and were helpful to

others, suggesting that this isn’t just a learned behaviour to avoid

punishment or scrutiny.

While these studies can’t completely disprove Freud and Hobbes’

more pessimistic views on human nature, they do seem to suggest

that babies are naturally inclined to prefer altruistic behaviour and

that parents can be fairly confident that, while leaving their children

on a desert island is probably still not the best idea, they at least

won’t try to squash the weakest one with a rock (sorry, William

Golding).

Question 1-10

Complete the sentences.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text in each

gap.

1 A renowned philosopher debated that being good is

________________ whereas the other one argued that human

beings are born as blank minds.

2 As per the most popular contrasting opinion shared by

Hobbes, Man was defined as _______________________ who

desired to control the society and norms for his own growth.

3 Human beings would not only be considerate but also honest

if the _________________ of society would not forced the social

evils such as greed and discrimination.

4 In order to acquire ethics and morality, infants were made to

view a _______________ where a lot of vibrant figures performed

well-identified actions of good and bad virtues.

5 The red circle signifies the efforts put in climbing a mountain

while the attempts to force it down were shown by

____________________________.

6 Even a seven months old baby chose the “good” yellow

triangle shape representing the _________________ behavioural

traits.

7 Instead of other factors including in born _______________

or pre-learnings, the major influence behind the infants’ choice was

the puppet’s actions.

8 A study conducted in 2017 evidenced the findings with the

help of a video casting multiple ________________named as

‘agents’.

9 The third party agent in the video would either choose to

_____________ to save the ‘victim’ from ‘bully’ or would rather run

away.
10 Children who displayed empathetic and compassionate

behaviour even when they were unaware of being

_______________ proved that it was not out of the fear of being

monitored or punished.