READING PASSAGE 1 The Mozart Effect A. Music has been used for centuries to heal the body. In the Ebers Papyrs (one of the earliest medical documents, circa 1500 B.C.), it was recorded that physicians chanted to heal the sick (Castleman, 1994). In various cultures, we have observed singing as part of healing rituals. In … Read more
READING PASSAGE 1 MENTAL GYMNASTICS A. THE working day has just started at the head office of Barclays Bank in London. Seventeen staff are helping themselves to a buffet breakfast as young psychologist Sebastian Bailey enters the room to begin the morning’s framing session. But this is no ordinary training session. He’s not here to … Read more
READING PASSAGE 1 Can We Hold Back the Flood? A. LAST winter’s floods on the rivers of central Europe were among the worst since the Middle Ages, and as winter storms return, the spectre of floods is returning too. Just weeks ago, the river Rhone in south-east France burst its banks, driving 15,000 people from … Read more
READING PASSAGE 1 Tea and Industrial Revolution A. Alan Macfarlane thinks he could rewrite history. The professor of anthropological science at King’s College, Cambridge has, like other historians, spent decades trying to understand the enigma of the Industrial Revolution. Why did this particular important event – the world-changing birth of industry – happen in Britain? … Read more
READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. The history of tea The story of tea begins in China. According to legend, in 2737 BC, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water, when some … Read more