Ask 100 people what would make them happy, and a sizeable majority would say “winning the lottery.” Yet, if they won a vast fortune, within a year they would be back to their previous level of happiness. The fact is that money has many uses, but more money does not mean more happiness. Surveys carried out in recent years by leading psychologists and sociologists all confirm that while individuals may increase their material wealth during the course of their lifetime, this has no bearing on their well-being. And what is true for individuals can be applied on a larger scale to the world population. Statistically, wealthier nations do not achieve higher scores on the happiness-ometer than developing or underdeveloped nations. Once the basic criteria of adequate shelter and nutrition are satisfied, increased wealth plays no significant role. So why the obsession with getting rich? The answer, say researchers, is simple. Call it jealousy, competitiveness, or just keeping up with the Joneses, however well we are doing, there is always someone else who is doing better. Just as we acquire a new $25,000 car, our neighbour parks his brand spanking new $40,000 set of wheels in his drive, causing us much consternation, but fuelling us with new aspirations in the process. And so the cycle continues. Money, or material wealth, may be a prime mover, but it is not the foundation of our well-being.
If money isn’t the key to happiness, then what is? In all 44 countries surveyed by a prominent research centre, family life provided the greatest source of satisfaction. Married people live on…
Questions 1–3
Choose THREE letters A - H. Which THREE of the following statements are true, according to the text? NB Your answers may be given in any order.
Language lovers, just like music lovers, enjoy variety. For the latter there's Mozart, The Rolling Stones and Beyonce. For the former there's English, French, Swahili, Urdu... the list is endless. But what about those poor overworked students who find learning difficult, confusing languages a drudge? Wouldn't it put a smile on their faces if there were just one simple, easy-to-learn tongue that would cut their study time by years? Well, of course, it exists. It's called Esperanto, and it's been around for more than 120 years. Esperanto is the most widely spoken artificially constructed international language. The name derives from Doktoro Esperanto, the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof first published his Unua Libro in 1887. The phrase itself means 'one who hopes'. Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy and flexible language as a universal second language to promote peace and international understanding.
Zamenhof, after ten years of developing his brainchild from the late 1870s to the early 1880s, had the first Esperanto grammar published in Warsaw in July 1887. The number of speakers grew rapidly over the next few decades, at first primarily in the Russian empire and Eastern Europe, then in Western Europe and the Americas, China, and Japan. In the early years, speakers of Esperanto kept in contact primarily through correspondence and periodicals, but since 1905 world congresses have been held on five continents every year except during the two World Wars. Latest estimates for the numbers of Esperanto speakers are around 2 million. Put in percentage terms, that's about…
Questions 14–19
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.
Melting land ice in the Arctic is set to cause a global rise in sea levels, leading to disastrous effects for both man and wildlife. Many species worldwide are threatened with extinction, and low-lying islands and land masses will disappear entirely. But the havoc wreaked by the effect of greenhouse gases won’t be confined to just too much water, but the absence of it, as well. In other words, desertification. A decrease in the total amount of rainfall in arid and semi-arid areas could increase the total area of drylands worldwide, and thus the total amount of land potentially at risk from desertification.
Desertification is officially recognised as land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human activities. This degradation of formerly productive land is a complex process. It involves multiple causes, and it proceeds at varying rates in different climates. Desertification may intensify a general climatic trend, or initiate a change in local climate, both leading towards greater aridity. The more arid conditions associated with desertification accelerate the depletion of vegetation and soils. Land degradation occurs all over the world, but it is only referred to as desertification when it takes place in drylands. This is because these areas are especially prone to more permanent damage as different areas of degraded land spread and merge together to form desert-like conditions.
Global warming brought about by increasing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere is expected to increase the…
Questions 27–32
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
27.Desertification is a complex process which proceeds at in different climates.
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Answers & explanations
Every answer is available. The first 3 explanations are free; PrepGo Premium unlocks the rest.
40 answers3 explanations open
1
C
- Option A, B, D, H: no information
- Option C:
+ The statement in option C can be found in the 7th sentence of paragraph 1: ‘Once the basic criteria of adequate shelter and nutrition are satisfied, increased wealth plays no significant role’
+ Pay attention to the key phrases from option C and the corresponding phrases in the paragraph: ‘a place to live’ = ‘adequate shelter’
+ Moreover, the 7th sentence is written in a conditional structure with the aim of confirming that having an adequate shelter is human’s basic needs
- Option E:
+ Firstly, look for the keyword ‘married couple’ and ‘unmarried couple’; then, quickly skim and scan through the passage.
+ The answer for this Qs can be found in paragraph 2 in the 2nd sentence. Read this sentence carefully, comparing it with the given information from the option
+ Finally, make a conclusion that option E is the correct answer
- Option G:
+ Firstly, look for the keyword ‘policy making’ and ‘well-being’ and its same expression such as ‘political process’; then, quickly skim and scan through the passage.
+ The answer for this Qs can be found in paragraph 4 in the 4th sentence. Read this sentence carefully, comparing it with the given information from the option
+ Finally, make a conclusion that option G is the correct answer
=> Hence, the answer is C, E, G
2
E
Option E states that unmarried people living together are less likely to be happy than married people. This is supported by paragraph 2, which says married people enjoy greater physical and psychological health than 'the unmarried and, surprisingly, couples in a cohabitational relationship.' This means even cohabiting (unmarried) couples are less happy than married couples. Therefore, E is correct.
3
G
Option G states that involvement in policy making can increase well-being. This is confirmed in paragraph 4, where it says 'the more that governments recognise the needs of their citizens and allow them to have a say in the political process, the happier those citizens will be.' Having a say in the political process is equivalent to involvement in policy making, and being happier equates to increased well-being. Therefore, G is correct.
4
F
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5
B
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6
D
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7
G
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8
NOT GIVEN
Answer only
9
TRUE
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10
NOT GIVEN
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11
FALSE
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12
TRUE
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13
FALSE
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14
v
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15
viii
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16
iii
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17
vi
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18
i
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19
ii
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20
C
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21
D
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22
B
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23
YES
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24
NO
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25
NOT GIVEN
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26
YES
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27
varying rates
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28
intensify
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29
initiate
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30
aridity
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31
vegetation
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32
soils
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33
G
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34
E
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35
D
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36
B
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37
A
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38
D
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39
B
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40
G
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Understand why, not only what.
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