READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are

based on Reading Passage 1.

Reef fish study
Tom Holmes examines the relationship between size and survival in fish on Australia's Great
Barrier Reef It is a widely held belief among those who study animals that larger size conveys
some form of advantage throughout life. The idea that certain body characteristics may influence
a prey's ability to survive when being attacked by a predator has received considerable attention
in the past, and has been applied to a wide range of both animals and habitats. Body size, weight,
growth rate, overall condition, sensory development and escape speed have all been linked to
survival. Of these, body size has received the most attention from researchers, which has
subsequently led to the development of a number of theories on how this characteristic may
influence the predator-prey relationship. One of the most popular of these is known as the 'bigger
is better' hypothesis. This theory predicts that larger body size should increase an individual's
ability to escape from a predator due to the characts associated with this, such as overall strength
and visual development. Bigger is thought to be better, but is this always the case?
Compared with other habitats and ecosystems, not a great deal is known about predator-prey
relationships within tropical reef communities. What we do know is largely limited to predator
identity and, to some extent, to what these predators eat. But what drives these interactions and
how does body size influence the outcome? How would fish populations respond to the removal
of certain predators from a reef fish community? It is precisely these questions that have led our
research team to Lizard Island, in the northern sector of the Great Barrier Reef. We want to
examine the predator-prey relationship during the 'early juvenile' or larval phase of tropical fish,
and determine whether a predator's choice of prey is influenced by factors such as the prey's size,
weight and swimming speed, as these characteristics vary from individual to individual at the
beginning of the juvenile stage.
Most coral reef fish have a life cycle consisting of an open ocean larval phase followed by a
juvenile to adult phase near the reef. The transition between the two stages is marked by rapid
and dramatic changes in the body of the fish, and a sudden move from the open ocean to coral
reef habitats. This point is commonly known as 'settlement'. Not surprisingly, it is also
characterised by increased levels of mortality in the first 48 hours following settlement, as
individuals are forced to adapt to life not only on the reef but also with a previously unknown set
of predators.
However, studying the interactions between predators and prey during this phase is no easy
task. On the northern Great Barrier Reef, coral reef fish settlement usually occurs within 2-3
days of a new moon during the warmer summer months. These short windows of opportunity,
combined with the difficulties associated with working underwater, transporting fish and
adapting them to the laboratory, often make research a daunting task. These obstacles are
overcome using a combination of innovative techniques, long working hours and a measure of
sheer persistence. We collect the larval fish immediately prior to settlement using purpose-built
traps that use artificial light to attract and contain fish of this life stage only. These fish are
subsequently transported to an aquarium, along with predatory fish, before being used in a series
of aquarium and field-based trials.
According to the 'bigger is better' hypothesis, being larger at the time of settlement should result
in an increased chance of surviving an attack by a predator during the period immediately
following settlement. However, our initial research shows that this is not always true. There may
be several reasons for this.
Communities of reef-based predators can differ considerably over quite small distances. Species
that are abundant in one location may be particularly rare in a similar habitat just 100 metres
away. In the same way that different predators prefer different types of prey, so too do they
prefer different sizes of prey. This relationship is driven by physical characteristics of predators,
such as mouth size, and behavioural differences between different predator species. As a result,
the predator community into which a reef fish settles may very well determine which individuals
survive.
So why don't larger individuals survive more often than smaller fish over this period? The
answer may well lie in an alternative hypothesis known as 'optimal foraging theory'. According
to this theory, being either very large or very small in size should assist prey to escape during a
predatory encounter. The theory predicts that a predator should prefer those individuals that
provide the greatest energy return. This is generally a trade-off between the potential energy
intake from eating a fish and the amount of energy required to catch it. Larger prey provide a
higher energy return but smaller prey generally require less energy to catch. This usually results
in a preference for medium-sized prey.
At the time of settlement, juvenile reef fish vary in the characteristics that can help them survive
a predatory attack. However, these characteristics are not strongly associated with body size. For
example, larger individuals are not necessarily faster. This means that they may be easier to
catch than smaller prey. If this is the case then, according to the optimal foraging theory,
predators should prefer larger prey because of their greater energy return. Consequently, larger
prey individuals may be targeted by some predators at the time of settlement. Our research hopes
to show that larger size may, in fact, be a distinct disadvantage during certain life stages.
Questions 1-4 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage
1? In boxes 1-4 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 Research to date has concentrated on the importance of escape speed in surviving an attack by
a predator.
2 According to the 'bigger is better' hypothesis, larger animals have better eyesight.
3 Early-juvenile reef fish share similar characteristics.
4 Fully developed reef fish have a slower swimming speed than juveniles.
Questions 5-7 Complete the flow-chart below. hoose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from
the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 5-7 on your answer sheet.
Life cycle of fish in the Lizard Island study
Phase1: Larval stage takes place in the 5 ………………
Phase 2: Juvenile stage takes place close to the 6 ………………….. the move from one habitat
to another is called settlement 7………….. rates are high in the early part of this stage
Phase 3: Adult stage
Questions 8-13 Complete the notes below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the
passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.
Lizard Island study
Aim:
to study the relationship between predator and prey in juvenile reef fish
Problems:
i) time-change of habitat takes place in summer and is linked to the 8......
ii) working conditions
iii) adaptation-difficult to move and settle fish into the 9 ...
Method: larval fish are drawn into a special trap with the aid of 10....
11 ........ are also collected both undergo trials Possible reasons why 'bigger' is not always
'better':
+ the number and type of predatory fish on the reef can vary from place to place
+ physical features (e.g. 12 …………..affect which prey a predator can eat
+ optimal foraging theory suggests that the most common choice of prey should be
13 ............ in size + large juvenile fish may swim slowly and so may be targeted more often

Rubber (Reading Passage)

T and W Musgrove discuss the origins and early uses of rubber
The plants that produce rubber are spread right across the globe, and grow
in many different habitats. One might think it likely, therefore, that
humankind has known about rubber for thousands of years. Yet, unlike other
crops of economic importance, rubber led a relatively anonymous life until
the last 150 years or so. The Indians of South America appear to be the first
people to have understood the properties of rubber, and the Aztecs of what
is now Mexico were the first to be recorded using the substance; a wall
painting dating back to the sixth century depicts a scene of a tributary
offering of crude rubber. With the arrival of Columbus in the Americas and
the resulting Spanish influx, further evidence starts to appear concerning the
Native American use of rubber. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas describes a
ritual game played with a rubber ball at the court of the Aztec Emperor
Montezuma II, and the Mayan and Toltec people are known to have taken
part in similar activities. Rubber was also used to make raincoats, shoes,
jars, torches and musical instruments, all of which must have been made
from the indigenous Castilla elastica, as the Para plant now favoured for
rubber cultivation does not grow in the Mexican region.
The first description of latex (liquid rubber) extraction is made by Juan de
Torquemada, who noted that if a receptacle was not at hand the Native
Americans would place the latex on their bodies to allow it to solidify.
However, no real interest in rubber was shown by any European until Charles
de la Condamine, a French mathematician, published an account of his
journey to South America in 1735. The journey was undertaken on behalf of
the Paris Academy of Sciences to measure an arc of the meridian line on the
equator, but the journey home was to turn out to be more significant than
the true purpose of the trip. Condamine explored Brazil and Peru and
discovered how the local people used one single piece of coagulated latex to
make boots. The boots were impervious to water and, when smoked, looked
like real leather. In 1747 the first description of the rubber tree and latex
tapping was made by a military engineer and amateur botanist, Francois
Fresneau, who was posted to French Guiana. The publications of Condamine
and Fresneau created considerable excitement among French scientists, and
an attempt was made to discover a solvent that could turn the crude rubber
into a substance for commercial exploitation.
In 1818 a British medical student named James Syme first used rubber to
make waterproof cloth. Another early use of the substance was as an eraser
of pencil marks, hence the name ‘rubber’. This was complemented by
balloons, rubber bands, braces, boots for the army and other ideas that met
with varying degrees of success. In 1820 Thomas Hancock, an English
manufacturer of rubber goods such as driving belts, industrial rollers and
rubber hoses, invented a machine he called the ‘pickle’, which chewed up
waste strips for re-use. It was discovered that the masticated rubber was
more malleable, while maintaining much of its elasticity. In Scotland at the
same time Charles Mackintosh had discovered a way of using rubber as
waterproofing material, by a process he patented in 1823. Hancock and
Mackintosh joined forces in 1834, and three years later Hancock invented a
machine for spreading rubber onto material.
Despite their beneficial qualities, such as waterproofing, rubber goods were
still not particularly popular as they had some major flaws, including the fact
that they dissolved malodorously. They also became pliant when warm and
rigid when cold. Then in 1839 the American Charles Goodyear discovered
that it was possible to stabilize rubber by mixing it with sulphur while
exposing it to heat – a process he called vulcanisation – and the full
versatility of this extraordinary substance became apparent.
Rubber goods could now be manufactured which had all the beneficial
qualities of the material, such as durability, elasticity and variability, but
which were not sticky, soluble or governed by the vagaries of the weather.
The economic potential of rubber was now clearly evident. It played an
important role in the Industrial Revolution, being employed in the steam
engines found in factories, mills, mines and railways. It made a triumphant
entrance as a new and innovative material at the Great Exhibition of 1851,
where shoes, airbeds, furniture and clothing made out of newly improved
rubber were proudly displayed.
One of the most important rubber inventions was made in 1888, when an
Irishman called John Boyd Dunlop produced the first pneumatic tyre. Solid
rubber tyres had been used for the previous 18 years, but Dunlop’s new
design, which he updated in 1890, immediately became popular. In 1895
Dunlop’s tyres were first used in motor cars, and with the mass production of
cars just over the horizon the rubber industry had never looked healthier.
The import levels of rubber over the nineteenth century bear witness to its
irrepressible rise. In 1830 Britain had imported just 211 kg of crude rubber.
This had risen to 10,000 kg in 1857, and by 1874 levels were just under six
times as much again.
Questions 1 – 6

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading

Passage 1?
In boxes 1-6 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. Rubber plants grow only in certain regions of the world.
2. Rubber was extracted in Mexico as early as the sixth century.
3. Rubber from the Castilla elastica plant is of poorer quality than that
from the Para plant.
4. A French mathematician inspired real interest in rubber amongst
Europeans.
5. The process of vulcanisation was discovered by accident.
6. Imports of crude rubber into Britain fell during the nineteenth century.
Questions 7 – 13
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet

The Commercial Development of Rubber

Early European travellers gave accounts of various rubber objects in use in

Central and South America, and these accounts created interest in the
commercial exploitation of rubber.

In 1818, 7__________ was produced using rubber, and in 1820 a machine was
invented for recycling 8__________ of rubber. Over the next few years, other
attempts were made to improve rubber, but some problems remained. For
example, rubber products smelt bad when they were dissolved, and could
turn either soft or 9__________ depending on the temperature. However, in
1839 a new process to 10__________ the substance greatly increased its
potential. For example, rubber was used in the creation of the 11__________
found in industry during the Industrial Revolution. Then in 1888
the 12__________ was developed, and a few years later the 13__________ of
the motor car began.
Reading Passage: The Development of Plastics
A. When rubber was first commercially produced in Europe during the
nineteenth century, it rapidly became a very important commodity,
particularly in the fields of transportation and electricity. However, during the
twentieth century a number of new synthetic materials, called plastics,
superseded natural rubber in all but a few applications.
B. Rubber is a polymer – a compound containing large molecules that are
formed by the bonding of many smaller, simpler units, repeated over and
over again. The same bonding principle – polymerization – underlies the
creation of a huge range of plastics by the chemical industry.
C. The first plastic was developed as a result of a competition in the USA. In
the 1860s, $10,000 was offered to anybody who could replace ivory –
supplies of which were declining – with something equally good as a material
for making billiard balls. The prize was won by John Wesley Hyatt with a
material called celluloid. Celluloid was made by dissolving cellulose, a
carbohydrate derived from plants, in a solution of camphor dissolved in
ethanol. This new material rapidly found uses in the manufacture of products
such as knife handles, detachable collars and cuffs, spectacle frames and
photographic film. Without celluloid, the film industry could never have got
off the ground at the end of the 19th century.
D. Celluloid can be repeatedly softened and reshaped by heat, and is known
as a thermoplastic. In 1907, Leo Baekeland, a Belgian chemist working in the
USA, invented a different kind of plastic, by causing phenol and
formaldehyde to react together. Baekeland called the material Bakelite, and
it was the first of the thermosets – plastics that can be cast and moulded
while hot, but cannot be softened by heat and reshaped once they have
set. Bakelite was a good insulator, and was resistant to water, acids and
moderate heat. With these properties it was soon being used in the
manufacture of switches, household items such as knife handles, and
electrical components for cars.
E. Soon chemists began looking for other small molecules that could be
strung together to make polymers. In the 1930s British chemists discovered
that the gas ethylene would polymerize under heat and pressure to form a
thermoplastic they called polythene. Polypropylene followed in the
1950s. Both were used to make bottles, pipes and plastic bags. A small
change in the starting material – replacing a hydrogen atom in ethylene with
a chlorine atom – produced PVC (polyvinyl chloride), a hard, fireproof plastic
suitable for drains and gutters. And by adding certain chemicals, a soft form
of PVC could be produced, suitable as a substitute for rubber in items such
as waterproof clothing. A closely related plastic was Teflon, or PTFE
(polytetrafluoroethylene). This had a very low coefficient of friction, making it
ideal for bearings, rollers, and non-stick frying pans. Polystyrene, developed
during the 1930s in Germany, was a clear, glass-like material, used in food
containers, domestic appliances and toys. Expanded polystyrene – a white,
rigid foam – was widely used in packaging and insulation. Polyurethanes,
also developed in Germany, found uses as adhesives, coatings, and – in the
form of rigid foams – as insulation materials. They are all produced from
chemicals derived from crude oil, which contains exactly the same elements
– carbon and hydrogen – as many plastics.
F. The first of the man-made fibres, nylon, was also created in the 1930s. Its
inventor was a chemist called Wallace Carothers, who worked for the Du
Pont company in the USA. He found that under the right conditions, two
chemicals – hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid – would form a polymer
that could be pumped out through holes and then stretched to form long
glossy threads that could be woven like silk. Its first use was to make
parachutes for the US armed forces in World War II. In the post-war years
nylon completely replaced silk in the manufacture of stockings. Subsequently
many other synthetic fibres joined nylon, including Orion, Acrilan and
Terylene. Today most garments are made of a blend of natural fibres, such
as cotton and wool, and man-made fibres that make fabrics easier to look
after.
G. The great strength of plastic is its indestructibility. However, this quality is
also something of a drawback: beaches all over the world, even on the
remotest islands, are littered with plastic bottles that nothing can destroy.
Nor is it very easy to recycle plastics, as different types of plastic are often
used in the same items and call for different treatments. Plastics can be
made biodegradable by incorporating into their structure a material such as
starch, which is attacked by bacteria and causes the plastic to fall apart.
Other materials can be incorporated that gradually decay in sunlight –
although bottles made of such materials have to be stored in the dark, to
ensure that they do not disintegrate before they have been used.
Questions
Complete the table below
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passages for each
answer
Write your answer in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.
Date of
Name of Original
inventio Property Common use
plastic region
n
Celluloid 1860s US 14. __________ 15. __________
Can be cast and 16. __________,
moulded but household
Bakelite 1907 US
cannot be items and car
softened by heat parts
Bottles, pipes
Polythene 1930 Britain 17. __________ and plastic
bags
Drains and
Rigid PVC 18. __________
gutters
German
Polystyrene 1930s 19. __________ Food container
y
Adhesives,
Polyurethan German 20. __________
coatings and
es y foams
insulation
Questions 21-26: Do the following statements agree with the information
in Reading Passage?
 TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
 FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
 NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

21. The chemical structure of plastic is very different from that of rubber.

22. John Wesley was a famous chemist.

23. Celluloid and Bakelite react to heat in the same way.

24. The mix of different kinds of plastic in a product makes recycling it

difficult.

25. Adding starch into plastic can make plastic more durable.

26. Some plastic-based containers have to be preserved in special

conditions.