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18. The phrase “proving good for business” in the last paragraph means that the rumors about the recipe …

1) provided unnecessary problems for the company.

2) helped the company’s sales.

3) were supported by the company.

4) helped to keep the recipe in secret.

For almost 125 years, the secrecy surrounding the recipe for Coca-Cola has been one of the world’s great marketing tricks. As the story goes, the fizzy drink’s famous ‘7X’ formula has remained unchanged since it was developed in 1886. Today, the recipe is entrusted only to two Coke executives, neither of whom can travel on the same plane for fear the secret would go down with them.

Now, one of America’s most celebrated radio broadcasters claims to have discovered the Coke secret. Ira Glass, presenter of the public radio institution This American Life, says he has tracked down a copy of the recipe, the original of which is still supposedly held in a burglar-proof vault at the Sun Trust Bank in Atlanta, Georgia.

The formula was created by John Pemberton, an Atlanta chemist and former Confederate army officer who crafted cough medicines in his spare time. In 1887, he sold the recipe to a businessman, Asa Griggs, who immediately placed it for safekeeping in the Georgia Trust Bank.

Glass came across a recipe that he believes is the secret formula in a back issue of Pemberton’s local paper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, while he was researching an entirely different story. Tucked away on an inside page of the 8 February 1979 edition, he stumbled on an article that claimed to have uncovered the closely guarded 7X formula.

The column was based on information found in an old leather-bound notebook that belonged to Pemberton’s best friend and fellow Atlanta chemist, RR Evans. Glass was intrigued and, after some digging, found that the notebook had been handed down over generations until it reached a chemist in Georgia called Everett Beal, whose widow still possesses it.

The rediscovered recipe includes extract of coca leaves, caffeine, plenty of sugar (it specifies 30 unidentified units thought to be pounds), lime juice, vanilla and caramel. Into that syrup, the all-important 7X ingredients are added: alcohol and six oils –orange, lemon, nutmeg, coriander, neroli and cinnamon. The formula is very similar to the recipe worked out by Mark Pendergrast who wrote a history of the drink in 1993 called For God, Country & Coca-Cola.

Coke’s secret recipe is, in fact, partly a myth. The soda has changed substantially over time. Cocaine, a legal stimulant in Pemberton’s day, was removed from the drink in 1904 after mounting public unease about the drug. Extract of coca leaves is still used but only after the cocaine has been removed.

In 1980, the company replaced sugar, squeezed from beet and cane, with the cheaper corn sweetener that is often found in American food and drink. Coke fans were not impressed.

Despite such occasional controversies, one element has remained constant: Coke’s commitment to keeping its own secret. Speculation about the recipe has been a popular talking point for more than a century, proving good for business. The company has reacted to the This American Life story in a way that has been typical of its commercial strategy since the 19^th century. “Many third parties have tried to crack our secret formula. Try as they might, they’ve been unsuccessful,” Coca-Cola’s Kerry Tressler said.

18. What is the author's point expressed in the last paragraph?

1) Graffiti has now become mainstream and can make artists a lot of money.

2) Graffiti is not a good way to become a respected artist.

3) Some of the most popular graffiti artists end up being exploited by the art world.

4) Rich artists are killing the idea of graffiti.

A brief history of graffiti

The first drawings on walls appeared in caves thousands of years ago. Later the Ancient Romans and Greeks wrote their names and protest poems on buildings. Modern graffiti seems to have appeared in Philadelphia in the early 1960s, and by the late sixties it had reached New York. The new art form really took off in the 1970s, when people began writing their names, or ‘tags’, on buildings all over the city. In the mid seventies it was sometimes hard to see out of a subway car window, because the trains were completely covered in spray paintings known as ‘masterpieces’.

In the early days, the ‘taggers’ were part of street gangs who were concerned with marking their territory. They worked in groups called ‘crews’, and called what they did ‘writing’ – the term ‘graffiti’ was first used by The New York Times and the novelist Norman Mailer. The article was about a young street artist from New York under the nickname Taki183. He worked as a courier, so he spent a lot of time on the subway. There, at every station he visited, he left a mark with his name. Over time, there were so many of them that not only passers-by, but also local journalists paid attention to them. The artist became the first replacement in the history of graffiti and is considered one of its founders.

Art galleries in New York began buying graffiti in the early seventies. But at the same time that it began to be regarded as an art form, John Lindsay, the mayor of New York, declared the first war on graffiti. By the 1980s it became much harder to write on subway trains without being caught, and instead many of the more established graffiti artists began using roofs of buildings or canvases. Artists earned additional respect for tags in hard-to-reach locations, such as at high altitudes or in protected areas. Then the priority was not given to the visual side, but popularity was measured in the number of marks throughout the city.

The debate over whether graffiti is art or vandalism is still going on. Peter Vallone, a New York city councillor, thinks that graffiti done with permission can be art, but if it is on someone else’s property it becomes a crime. ‘I have a message for the graffiti vandals out there,’ he said recently. ‘Your freedom of expression ends where my property begins.’ On the other hand, Felix, a member of the Berlin-based group Reclaim Your City, says that artists are reclaiming cities for the public from advertisers, and that graffiti represents freedom and makes cities more vibrant.

For decades graffiti has been a springboard to international fame for a few. Jean-Michel Basquiat began spraying on the street in the 1970s before becoming a respected artist in the ’80s. The Frenchman Blek le Rat and the British artist Banksy have achieved international fame by producing complex works with stencils, often making political or humorous points. Works by Banksy have been sold for over £100,000. Commerce has become a characteristic feature of modern graffiti culture. As large companies realized the popularity of street artists' drawings, artists became increasingly involved in advertising campaigns, and manifestations of graffiti in popular culture can be found everywhere — from advertising and films to video games.

18. The author’s opinion about the future of the Cavendish may be described as …

1) Optimistic

2) Pessimistic

3) Cautious

4) Indifferent

A threat to bananas

In the 1950s, Central American commercial banana growers were facing the death of their most lucrative product, the Gros Michel banana, known as Big Mike. And now it’s happening again to Big Mike’s successor – the Cavendish.

With its easily transported, thick-skinned and sweet-tasting fruit, the Gros Michel banana plant dominated the plantations of Central America. United Fruit, the main grower and exporter in South America at the time, mass-produced its bananas in the most efficient way possible: it cloned shoots from the stems of plants instead of growing plants from seeds, and cultivated them in densely packed fields.

Unfortunately, these conditions are also perfect for the spread of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense, which attacks the plant’s roots and prevents it from transporting water to the stem and leaves. The TR-1 strain of the fungus was resistant to crop sprays and travelled around on boots or the tyres of trucks, slowly infecting plantations across the region. In an attempt to escape the fungus, farmers abandoned infected fields, flooded them and then replanted crops somewhere else, often cutting down rainforest to do so.

Their efforts failed. So, instead, they searched for a variety of banana that the fungus didn’t affect. They found the Cavendish, as it was called, in the greenhouse of a British duke. It wasn’t as well suited to shipping as the Gros Michel, but its bananas tasted good enough to keep consumers happy. Most importantly, TR-1 didn’t seem to affect it. In a few years, United Fruit had saved itself from bankruptcy by filling its plantations with thousands of the new plants, copying the same monoculture growing conditions Gros Michel had thrived in.

While the operation was a huge success for the Latin American industry, the Cavendish banana itself is far from safe. In 2014, South East Asia, another major banana producer, exported four million tons of Cavendish bananas. But, in 2015, its exports had dropped by 46 per cent thanks to a combination of another strain of the fungus, TR-4, and bad weather.

Growing practices in South East Asia haven’t helped matters. Growers can’t always afford the expensive lab-based methods to clone plants from shoots without spreading the disease. Also, they often aren’t strict enough about cleaning farm equipment and quarantining infected fields. As a result, the fungus has spread to Australia, the Middle East and Mozambique – and Latin America, heavily dependent on its monoculture Cavendish crops, could easily be next.

Racing against the inevitable, scientists are working on solving the problem by genetically modifying the Cavendish with genes from TR-4-resistant banana species. Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology have successfully grown two kinds of modified plant which have remained resistant for three years so far. But some experts think this is just a sophisticated version of the same temporary solution the original Cavendish provided. If the new bananas are planted in the same monocultures as the Cavendish and the Gros Michel before it, the risk is that another strain of the disease may rise up to threaten the modified plants too.

18. Todd was

1) a sociable person.

2) hostile to people.

3) thinking about the conversation with Manny’s wife the whole day.

4) bad at communicating with people.

Today was a rice day, fifty pound sacks of white rice in trucks bearing an elephant logo. The same happy elephant appeared on the bags, its head raised to the sky, the trunk curved like an S. ‘Elephant,’ Todd said. He said it because a labourer was staring at it intently, which meant he wasn’t working. ‘That’s right,’ the man said. ‘I couldn’t remember the word.’ He was the only other human at the loading dock this morning. The man didn’t have a name, just a number, like the rest of the robots.

That could be me, Todd thought as he watched him work side by side with his silent mechanical counterparts, lifting, carrying, and dropping bags of rice from the back of the truck to the warehouse. A bad car accident, a bad fall from a ladder, and that could be me. Or a bad memrip.

At lunch, Todd thought of things he could sell. Everything he owned of any value, he could touch: his grandfather’s watch, his grandmother’s wedding ring, a gold necklace be longing to some forgotten relative. His car, too, but that was out of the question as he needed it to work. He got up from his chair and scanned the floor below, the robots still working away, a sea of metallic shoulders rising and falling in unison, strangely beautiful in a way. Over by the forklift sat 8831, his eyes as blank as the piece of bread he was eating.

Two weeks from today was Todd’s thirtieth wedding anniversary, and even if he were to pawn the watch, the ring, and the necklace, he knew he wouldn’t even come close to having enough for Paris. That’s where Sue had wanted to go for as long as he could re member. They didn’t have the money to honeymoon there, but that was okay because back then, there had been plenty of time. They were young, both healthy and working, so they would save a little here and there and in a couple of years, they would be walking up to the Eiffel Tower at night arm in arm, find themselves underneath the arch and look up at the beacon that shines on this city of lights.

But then came two sons and three recessions and a second mortgage. A hysterectomy for her, a double bypass for him, and now here he was, nine years short of retirement, supervising a team of robots and a retarded man, thinking about folks who could sell things they couldn’t touch, like stocks and bonds and whatever else he couldn’t even fathom, people with money who would pay to experience another’s most cherished moments.

Silly. That would be Sue’s word for it if this were a story she’d overheard. For a trip, what a silly thing to do. But it was more than a trip. It was their life together. There was life and there was death, and it seemed to Todd that if he waited any longer, there wouldn’t be any difference between the two.

He opened the filing cabinet and rifled through the folders. Name: Lopez, Manny. Age: 46. Tax Status: Married. In all the years he’d been here, only a handful of human workers had come and gone. All of them were handicapped in some way; they came through the city welfare program, and 8831 was no exception.

Manny’s wife picked up on the second ring. Todd told her who he was, and after he assured her that her husband was not hurt, he was fine, he was a great worker, he asked her what he wanted to know. She listened without interrupting him; then there was a lengthy silence.

‘Why?’ she asked.

‘Does it matter?’

‘I can report you.’

‘I know.’ More silence.

‘He did it because he loved me. Loved,’ she said, hardening. ‘Not loves.’

‘I heard you.’

Then she hung up, and for the rest of the day, Todd replayed the conversation in his mind. Should he have lied to her, made up some story about a sick mother, a dying child? He wasn’t good at talking, especially on the phone. People thought he was unfriendly, hostile. A woman once told him his voice sounded like broken stones rattling in a cage.

The horn blared at five, time for the two humans to go home and the robots to be reconditioned and put in standby.

(Adapted from ‘Paris, at Night’ by Sung J. Woo)

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Educational technology

    The covid outbreak showed all of us that education online is possible. Moreover, it can be even effective if we learn to implement educational technology available today.

    Educational technology is the use of tools in the classroom to develop an engaging and personalized learning experience. Beyond the use of computers, students and teachers can use interactive platforms, devices, and even analytical software to better gauge students' progress using data in real-time. Learning has never been a one-size-fits-all endeavour, and with educational technology, teachers can better serve students' individualized needs.

    The benefits of technology in education are far-reaching and growing with each day. Let's take a look at some of the upsides of how technology impacts education positively.

    The first thing that comes to mind is 24/7 availability and accessibility. Technology like the internet and the ability to record lectures, upload learning resources to a platform, and host discussion forums make it possible to expand one's access and availability to learn. For example, at many universities around the world students can earn their degrees entirely online through the use of an online learning system. Students used to have to be physically located inside a classroom to obtain their education. These days, online learning (by choice or by circumstance) has led to a revolution in education that makes it accessible to anyone, anywhere.

    Furthermore, technology offers great metrics for tracking progress. With technological platforms, students and teachers can report and review progress based on each individual's performance. Through the use of analytics, teachers can easily visualize how a student is growing or being thwarted. This can help teachers spot inefficiencies or areas that are ripe for improvement or attention.

    Follow-up activities in online education are more diverse. Once a student leaves their designated class time, homework is a standard follow-up. However, when handing out paperwork, there may be missed opportunities. With education and technology, teachers can design personalized follow-up activities and grant each student the ability to learn at their own pace, even when they are outside of the classroom. For example, teachers can host a variety of options online for follow-up activities, and students, based on their level of understanding, can choose their course of action.

    What the opponents of online education usually say is that you lack communication. But I think using technology actually means increased collaboration. Classroom management tools make it easier than ever for students, parents, and teachers to collaborate. For example, it's not always easy to get students to work together in groups. But, with online portals and discussion forums, students can contribute in their own space and time to work with other students. Additionally, teachers can communicate and collaborate in an organized manner with parents for feedback and the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and/or concerns.

    Lastly, just because schools or institutions use educational technology, it doesn't mean that the need for a teacher is removed. Teachers are necessary to implement the technology properly; devise creative lesson plans, and support students' needs, among other things.

    To conclude, technology in education has led to more accessibility, lower costs, and personalized learning experiences. From education data platforms to online schools and everything in between, it's asy to see how technology has affected education, and continues to do so with each innovation.

What is the author's overall view on using technology in education?

1) The teacher plays the most important role in education.
2) Technology helps adapt learning process to students' needs.
3) Online learning will gain more popularity in the future.
4) The benefits of technology in education are limited.

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Time management

    Everyone has the same number of hours in the day. As a student, it never really seems like there's enough time to do the things you want to do, let alone the things you have to do, right? What are the best time management tips for students that can help with this?

    My first tip is to set a schedule. As they used to say, "Pencil it in." Sure, we've come a long way from relying on agenda books, but schedulers and agendas (digital or print) can play a huge role in how we manage time daily. You can either be really serious about scheduling by breaking your time into 15-30-minute blocks and outlining what you'll be doinin time it mor lenient by rough mortant your days in yovance. But are sure you : for help from your friends and family with your other chores. You may be surprised just how happy they are to help so you can succeed.

    It is important to set realistic goals. Our society tells us to aim high and "shoot for the . stars, so if you fall, you land on the clouds." But sometimes, it makes more sense to set realistic and smaller goals so that you can pass those hurdles and gain momentum to accomplish bigger goals. In my opinion, slow progress is better than no progress, and by being able to complete the small steps, you're making collective moves to accomplish your long-term goals.

    This method also works to manage time because you can't see so far into the future. By setting up your goals day in and day out, you're creating good habits that are within your control that accumulate over time to cause big changes. For example, if you want to run a marathon, you're going to start training daily with just a few miles and build up from there. In that same manner, you can train your brain and mind to grow stamina for studying. If you want to learn a new language, you can do daily lessons, and over time, you'll realise how much you've learnt as all the short lessons accumulate.

    It may sound too simple, but it really works — wake up early. Begin by going to bed at the usual time, then wake up at 5:30 a.m. You may struggle the first morning, but make sure you get up. Go to sleep early that night, and again wake up at 5:30 a.m. the next day. After that your body clock will reset, and your new wake up time will be easy. By setting that alarm clock for the early hours of the morning, you're setting up your day to maximize your time.

    When you're up early, you rush less, and in turn, stress less. Since the body and mind are getting up from a fresh night's sleep, it's the best time to get all your complex thinking tasks out of the way so that you can be productive and set the tone for your day. Waking up early has a lot of other benefits, too. For one, you're up before most other people, so it automatically helps to eliminate distractions. It also gives you the time to exercise and get some "me time," before all your other commitments take centre stage.

    Distractions are everywhere, especially the digital kinds. There are many apps that can help lock you out of the internet if you can't help but check your apps while trying to work or study. And if you are not ready to install another app or software, try leaving your phone in a different room and create a specific location from where you will just work. And, this isn't just a good idea to try when you're busy working. It's also a nice exercise when you're with friends and family because you can truly be present with them.

    Time management is important, especially when you're a student trying to fit loads of things into your busy life. Even learning some basic tips can do wonders. Every minute is precious, don't waste it doing something that isn't adding any value to your life.

The main goal of the article is to...
1) find the most effective time management rule.
2) educate students about time management.
3) share the author's experience of time management.

4) analyse the reasons why students lack time.

18. According to the IPCC, global warming

1) is no worse than predicted a few years ago.

2) will have catastrophic effect.

3) is still uncertain.

4) is inevitable.

The risk of catastrophic climate change is getting worse, according to a new study from scientists involved with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Threats — ranging from the destruction of coral reefs to more extreme weather events like hurricanes, droughts and floods — are becoming more likely at the temperature change already underway: as little as 1.8 degree Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) of warming in global average temperatures.

‘Most people thought that the risks were going to be for certain species and poor people. But all of a sudden the European heatwave of 2003 comes along and kills 50,000 people; [Hurricane] Katrina comes along and there’s a lot of data about the increased intensity of droughts and floods. Plus, the dramatic melting of Greenland that nobody can explain certainly has to increase your concern,’ says climatologist Stephen Schneider of Stanford University, who co-authored the research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences as well as in several IPCC reports. ‘Everywhere we looked, there was evidence that what was believed to be likely has happened. Nature has been cooperating with climate change theory unfortunately.’

Schneider and his colleagues updated a graph, dubbed the ‘burning embers,’ that is designed to map the risks of damage from global warming. The initial version of the graph drawn in 2001 had the risks of climate change beginning to appear after 3.6 or 5.4 degrees F (2 to 3 degrees C) of warming, but the years since have shown that climate risks kick in with less warming.

According to the new graph, risks to ‘unique and threatened systems’ such as coral reefs and risks of extreme weather events become likely when temperatures rise by as little as 1.8 degrees F from 1990 levels, which is on course to occur by mid-century given the current concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases. In addition, risks of negative consequences such as increased droughts and the complete melting of ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica definitively outweigh any potential positives, such as longer growing seasons in countries such as Canada and Russia.

‘We’re definitely going to overshoot some of these temperatures where we see these very large vulnerabilities manifest,’ says economist Gary Yohe of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., another co-author. ‘We’re going to have to learn how to adapt.’ Adaptation notwithstanding, Yohe and Schneider say that scientists must also figure out a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to reverse the heating trend to prevent further damage.

Several bills pending in Congress would set a so-called cap-and-trade policy under which an overall limit on pollution would be set — and companies with low output could sell their allowances to those that fail to cut emissions as long as the total stays within the total pollution cap. Any such federal policy would put a price on carbon dioxide pollution, which is currently free to vent into the atmosphere, Yohe note. He, however, favours a so-called carbon tax that would set a fixed price for such climate-changing pollution rather than the cap-and-trade proposals favoured by the Obama administration. ‘It’s a predictable price, not a thing that bounces around.’

But even with such policies in place—not only in the U.S. but across the globe—climate change is a foregone conclusion. Global average temperatures have already risen by at least 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit (0.6 degree C) and further warming of at least 0.7 degree F (0.4 degree C) is virtually certain, according to the IPCC. And a host of studies, including a recent one from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have shown that global warming is already worse than predicted even a few years ago. The question is: ‘Will it be catastrophic or not?’ ‘We’ve dawdled, and if we dawdle more, it will get even worse,’ Schneider says. ‘It’s time to move.’

18) What idea is stressed in the last two paragraphs?

1. There is room for further achievements in space exploration.

2. Asteroids are unique objects for scientific research.

3. Only smart administration can manage space programs.

4. International Space Station is the heaviest object in space.

Have you ever tasted saltwater? I guess you have and if so, you will agree with me that it’s not very refreshing. In fact, drinking more than a few cups worth can kill you.

According to the United States Geological Survey, whose mission is to collect and disseminate reliable, impartial, and timely information that is needed to understand the nation’s water resources, about ninety-seven percent of the water on our planet is saltwater; the rest is stored in lakes, rivers, glaciers and aquifers underground. Moreover, only about one-third of the world’s potential fresh water can be used for human needs. As pollution increases, the amount of usable water decreases.

Water is the most precious and taken-for-granted resource we have on Earth. It is also one of the most threatened resources. Increased population and possible climate change will put more and more strain on supplies of this vital resource as time goes on. What could we do in this situation? Though it may seem like science fiction, the solution could lie in outer space.

I’m not saying we’re going to be teleporting to a spring on the other side of the galaxy or colonizing another planet just to have longer showers – it’s much more mundane than that. What we could achieve realistically in this century is the successful use of the solar system’s rare metals and water, barring the invention of the matrix.

You may be surprised to learn that the metal in your keys, coins, cell phone, computer, car and everywhere else, originally came to this planet from space. When Earth formed, the heavy metals sank to the center and formed a solid core. The lighter elements formed the mantle and the crust we live on. Asteroids and comets that struck the Earth brought water and metals to the surface.

There are thousands of asteroids orbiting near Earth. Most asteroids are made of rock, but some are composed of metal, mostly nickel and iron. Probes could be sent out to these to identify useful ones. Then larger probes could push them towards the Earth where they can be handled in orbit.

In order to fuel ships and probes, we simply need to find a source of water, such as a comet or the surface of the moon. We collect the water and pass an electric current through it from a solar panel. The water separates into oxygen and hydrogen, which in liquid form is a powerful rocket fuel.

Is this really possible? We may soon find out. Private company SpaceX has already started delivering equipment to the International Space Station (ISS).The ISS is proof that countries once at each other’s throats, like America and Russia, can work together and pull off multi-billion dollar projects.

Recently, a company called Planetary Resources Inc. made the news forgetting big names like Google and Microsoft to invest in exploring asteroids for material gain. Although it will take many decades, it is wise to put the gears in motion now.

We’ve already landed probes on the surface of asteroids and taken samples from them. We can put something as large as the ISS, which weighs just short of 500 tons, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in orbit.

We can make a half-million-mile round-trip to get rocks from the moon. We can do all of these things already. They just need to be applied and developed in a smart way.