Reading passage 1

A. The junta has spent the past two decades consolidating its power, having violently crushed various democracy movements, including the 1988 student-guided protests and the peaceful monk-led demonstrations three years ago. Meanwhile, the party that won a landslide electoral victory in 1990, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been weakened by, among other things, the imprisonment of its top leaders. Suu Kyi, who should have become Prime Minister 20 years ago, will see her latest stint of house arrest expire just days after the forthcoming elections. Loath to contest polls in which its revered chief could not take part, the NLD has decided to boycott them. B. Dozens of other opposition parties are taking part, however, most notably various ethnic blocs and a breakaway NLD faction called the National Democratic Force that includes a number of young members. The reason is plain: for many Burmese youth, a flawed poll is preferable to stasis. "For 20 years, we have not moved forward," says Moe Moe Yu, a 24-year-old civil-society activist in Rangoon. "These elections won't build democracy tomorrow. But people are expecting change to come, maybe in 10 years or so, and for young people like me, this gives us hope." C. The looming elections have also created a climate of debate into which young people are tentatively venturing. On the streets of Rangoon, barely a palm frond sways in the tropical torpor; there is none of the energy of a normal campaign season few flyers, even fewer posters. (In the days leading up to the polls, Burma's Internet service was also interrupted, presumably to keep the country's citizens further in the dark.) D. But while they may not be busy campaigning, young Burmese are scrutinizing the government's failings in areas like education and health care, and acknowledging the futility of waiting for official redress. "I was working at a hospital and saw so many people die because there was no basic health care," says Thei Su San, a 24-year-old medical graduate. "I wondered, Why doesn't the government take care of them? But saying bad things about the government doesn't do anything. We as part of society have to move things forward ourselves. That's our responsibility." E. Lessons in Change at the Myanmar egress conversation Club in central Rangoon, young English-language students are dissecting the chorus of the Black Eyed Peas song "Where Is the Love?" ("People killing, people dying/ Children hurting, you hear them crying/ Can you practice what you preach/ And would you turn the other cheek?"). In a country where the most innocuous phrase can take on a dangerous political overtone, I wonder what the students make of the lyrics and chat after class with a 20-year-old woman wearing tight jeans and black nail polish. She gives me a knowing look and talks about the government and the people and the "social contract" that supposedly binds them. She recently learned the

phrase in another class she attends. (In Burma, English classes are often the easiest places to sneak in political lessons.) "In other countries," she says, "governments do things for their people. Here ..." She trails off and shakes her head. F. Since its inception four years ago, Myanmar Egress has served as an incubator for a new generation of young activists. The educational NGO, whose founders include businessmen with close relations to members of the regime, is controversial. Members of the influential exile community view Myanmar Egress as the democratic fig leaf of a junta creating an illusion of tolerance. Certainly, its teachers preach the virtues of an election that many dissidents want boycotted. "The military is getting stronger and stronger. Our only alternative is the elections," says instructor Kyaw Win, who has translated books on globalization into Burmese. G. Still, there is no questioning the idealism of the thousands of young students who have tromped up Myanmar Egress's worn stairs to study "Quick Fix Political Leadership/Civil Education Training" or "The Art of Blogging" topics suspiciously similar to those that the junta has tried to keep out of its universities. "In high school, we learned nothing about real Myanmar history, there was no information about politics," says Su San Win, a 16-year-old student from Mandalay. "Now I know what a constitution is and what civil society is." Source: Time Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 to 14 which are based on Reading Passage 1 Questions 1 to 7 Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs A G. From the list of headings below, choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph. i. I ixThe Myanmar Write the appropriate numbers in boxes 1 7Egress's on your answer sheet. success. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. The works of Myanmar Egress. The English-language students of Rangoon. A Burmese scrutiny. A climate of debate. The necessity of polling. The difference in enthusiasm. To build democracy tomorrow. The military rule.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph

A B C D E F G

Questions 8 10 Choose the correct letters, A, B, C or D Write your answers in boxes 8 10 on your answer sheet. 8 The passage focuses on the A. B. C. D. 9 A. B. C. D. 10 A. B. C. D. Youth of Burma. Politicians of Burma. Aged people of Burma. General mass of Burma. Myanmar Egress is a Government organisation. Non government organisation. Social welfare society. Cooperative society. The military power in Myanmar is in for The last ten years. The last twenty years. The last five years. More than twenty years.

Questions 11 14 Complete each of the following statements (questions 11 14) with the best endings A G from the box below Write the appropriate letters A G in boxes 11 14 on your answer sheet. 11 Burma's Internet service was also interrupted, presumably to 12 Young Burmese are scrutinizing the government's failings 13 The people are expecting change to come, 14 Myanmar Egress was founded

A Crossing the magic halfway. B Keep the country's citizens further in the dark. C In areas like education and health care. D Maybe in 10 years or so. E In areas like politics and economy. F Five years ago. Reading passage 2 A. Call me Ishmael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. B. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off -- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me. C. There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs -- commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you water ward. Its extreme down-town is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there. D. Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall northward. What do you see? -- Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking over the bulwarks of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster -- tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this? Are the green fields gone? What do they here?

E. But look! here come more crowds, pacing straight for the water, and seemingly bound for a dive. Strange! Nothing will content them but the extreme limit of the land; loitering under the shady lee of yonder warehouses will not suffice. No. They must get just as nigh the water as they possibly can without falling in. And there they stand -- miles of them -- leagues. Inlanders all, they come from lanes and alleys, streets and avenues, -- north, east, south, and west. Yet here they all unite. Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither? F. Once more. Say, you are in the country; in some high land of lakes. Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it. Let the most absent- minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries -- stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region. Should you ever be athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor. Yes, as everyone knows, meditation and water are wedded forever. G. But here is an artist. He desires to paint you the dreamiest, shadiest, quietest, most enchanting bit of romantic landscape in all the valley of the Saco. What is the chief element he employs? There stand his trees, each with a hollow trunk, as if a hermit and a crucifix were within; and here sleeps his meadow, and there sleep his cattle; and up from yonder cottage goes a sleepy smoke. Deep into distant woodlands winds a mazy way, reaching to overlapping spurs of mountains bathed in their hill-side blue. But though the picture lies thus tranced, and though this pine-tree shakes down its sighs like leaves upon this shepherd's head, yet all were vain, unless the shepherd's eye were fixed upon the magic stream before him. Go visit the Prairies in June, when for scores on scores of miles you wade knee-deep among Tiger- lilies -- what is the one charm wanting? -- Water -there is not a drop of water there! Source: Moby Dick by Melville Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15 27 which are based on Reading Passage 2 Questions 15 19 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 15 -19 in 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

15. The narrator is very much interested in sailing. 16. The passage is talking about a painter. 17. Manhattoes is a city in Europe. 18. There is a description of Chinese landscape. 19. The narrator believes that exploration can start anywhere and end anywhere.

Question 20 23 Look at the following persons (questions 20 23) and the list of statements below. Match each person to the correct statement. Write the correct letter A G in boxes 1 4 on your answer sheet. 20. Ishmael 21. China 22. The Prairies 23. The valley of the Saco A Is a country of varied landscape. B Is an explorer. C Is the name of the narrator. D Is a romantic place filled with natural beauty. E F Is vast grassland. Is filled with Tiger lilies.

Questions 24 27 Complete the following statements with the correct alternative from the box. Write the correct letter A F in boxes 24 27 on your answer sheet. 24. 25. 26. 27. City of the Manhattoes was Nothing will content them but As everyone knows, meditation nothing particular to interest the narrator

A The extreme limit of the land. B And water are wedded forever. C On shore. D Situated in China. E Belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs.

Reading Passage 3 A. Finding a good cup of java in Indonesia has always been easy, but a decent bar of chocolate? That's another story never mind that the nation is a major exporter of cocoa beans. Just ask Thierry Detournay, the Belgian founder of Chocolate Monggo, chocolatemonggo.com. B. "Making chocolate is a very long process," says Detournay. And that about sums up his own slow drift into the trade. He moved to Java's cultural capital Yogyakarta about 10 years ago as a drifter, then embarked on stints as a social worker and French lecturer. But he was so aghast at the quality of local chocolates and the dearth of decent imported ones that he began making his own at home out of desperation. C. Friends encouraged him to sell them, and soon he was seen around town displaying his instantly popular treats on a pink Vespa that doubled as a sales booth. After a few starts and stops, in 2005 he founded what is today Chocolate Monggo with a team of three. D. The company now employs around 80 workers and its products are found in over 400 outlets in Java and Bali. It uses only properly fermented, highquality beans from Sumatra and Java, and real cocoa butter rather than vegetable or palm oil or some other cheap substitute. There are around 10 flavours, such as cashew-nut praline and ginger, with mango and a tongue-blistering chilli in the works. E. Detournay eventually plans to expand into overseas markets but for now he is more interested in dispelling the notion that high-quality products made in Indonesia are only for export. There's certainly lots of room for growth in the local market according to Euro monitor, in 2009 the per capita chocolate consumption in Indonesia was just 0.3 kg, compared with a whopping 11.6 kg in the U.K. With an eye toward attracting local shoppers, Monggo's recycled-paper packaging is adorned with Javanese motifs. At the same time, the brand's local identity has made it attractive to tourists in search of a tasty and tasteful memento. F. Tour operators now include the Monggo workshop as a stop on tours of Kota Gede the Yogyakarta neighbourhood traditionally known for its silver workshops and picturesque old buildings. Visitors watch through a glass divider as workers wearing masks, caps and gloves inject chocolate shells with praline paste or noisily pound trays of recently poured chocolate to remove air bubbles. ("We don't sell air, we sell chocolate," explains Detournay.) Then everyone rushes to buy a souvenir bar fresh from the workshop. G. If you can't make it to Yogyakarta, the best place to find the full range of Monggo bars is in Jakarta at the Kem Chicks gourmet supermarket in the ritzy Pacific Place mall, next to the stock exchange. But it's increasingly common to see at least one or two Monggo varieties in cafs, bakeries and

even convenience stores. Detournay seems determined to salvage the reputation of Indonesian chocolate, one outlet at a time. Source: Time Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28 40 which are based on Reading Passage 3. Questions 28 32 The passage has seven paragraphs labelled AG. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet. NB: You may use any letter more than once. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. It is not easy to find a decent bar of chocolate in Indonesia. Chocolate Monggo has around four hundred outlets selling its products. Tour operators now include the Monggo workshop as a stop on tours. The chocolates have a number of flavoured versions. The company is a great success story in the islands of Java and Bali.

Questions 33 36 Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 3. Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

33. 34. 35. 36.

Thierry Detournay is the Belgian founder of . Finding a good cup of java in Indonesia has never . Thierry Detournay started making chocolates at home for . He started selling then on request of .

Questions 37 40

Complete the summary of the paragraphs A C below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet. Finding a decent chocolate in Indonesia was 37 .. Thierry Detournay founded 38 to meet this dearth. He came here ten years back 39 .. He began making his own chocolates at home out of desperation. It was on request of his friends that he 40 ..