Amelia Earhart, Pioneer Woman Pilot (1897-1937)

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CEPT 10

LISTENING

What should people do at the moment?

Akeep away from the area

Bhelp clean the beach

Csave some of the affected birds

You overhear a woman talking about some news she has just received.
How does she feel about the news?

Aconfused

Bsurprised

Cdelighted     

You turn on the radio and hear part of a music programme.
What do you learn about the four people mentioned?

AThey met working for television.

BTheir CD is well known.

CThey have recently formed a group.

Why did Judy start by writing about her teens?

AShe was advised to.

BHer childhood was boring.

CIt was an important period in her life.

DShe had a lot of problems then.

What advice has Judy’s editor given her?

ADescribe places you have been to.

BLeave out unimportant people.

CPlan the whole book first.

DWrite about well-known people.

What is her attitude to writing about sensational things?

APeople are too interested in such matters.

BShe doesn’t want to write about them.

CShe’s not worried about upsetting people.

DShe hasn’t made up her mind yet.

In writing her autobiography, Judy

Afinds it difficult to concentrate.

Bfeels she has made a lot of progress.

Cdoes not have a time limit.

Dgets impatient with herself.

What do we learn about Judy from the interview?

AShe’d like to be a professional writer.

BShe expects her book to be successful.

CShe hasn’t written any booksbefore.

DShe has had many problems in her life.

Barbara once felt embarrassed while driving in London because she

Atried to speak to someone about one of her designs.

Bbecame confused when a woman recognised her.

Cthought she knew a woman who was a total stranger.

Dsaw a woman in the same clothes as her own.

A store detective once suspected Barbara of being a thief because she

Aspent a long time in a changing room.

Bpicked so many items off the rails.

Cwas waiting without trying to buy anything.

Dwas carrying a number of bags.

Why did Barbara tell her headmistress that she wanted to go to art college?

AShe was keen to demonstrate her artistic ability.

BShe was afraid that no university would accept her.

CShe was determined to rebel against her parents.

DShe was anxious to suggest an alternative to university.

Barbara and her husband were not prepared for their first trade fair because

Athey became too exhausted to complete the collection.

Bthey had not given enough consideration to sales procedures.

Cthey had been unable to complete an existing contract.

Dthey did not have enough time to display the garments.

Barbara's company was most profitable at a time when

Athey made high quality goods.

Bthey had clear planning objectives.

Cthey knew very little about their clients.

Dthey had no proper business systems.

READING

The picnic was fun even although unless since x the weather was bad.

It took us eight hours to get arrive reach complete x our final destination.

Deserts

Deserts exist in every continent of the world apart from Europe. A region can be called a desert if its middle average medium standard x annual rainfall is under 250 mm. As When Because While most deserts are hot, there are also cold deserts, such as Antarctica, a desert made almost completely of ice.

Deserts are often considered seen thought imagined of as impossible places to live in, but they are actually home to a wide high deep long range of plants and animals. With so little few small less rainfall, plants grow slowly and only flower on rare occasions.

Amelia Earhart, the pioneering woman pilot, had first flying lesson in January 1921, and convinced herself that she was destined to become a pilot. In the six months that followed, she managed to save enough money to buy a plane. Earhart named the bright yellow plane ‘The Canary’, and put it to good use, setting the first women’s record by rising an altitude of 14,000 feet, a remarkable achievement. From on, Earhart’s life revolved flying. But strong Earhart’s convictions were, challenging financial obstacles lay ahead.

The Wisdom of Birds: an illustrated history of ornithology
By Tim Birkhead

Reviewed by Mark Cocker

Every autumn, tiny swallows fly 11,000km from Britain to South Africa - and return the following spring. For our ancestors, some facts about birds seemed so fantastic that they found them incredible. Rather than the miracle of swallow migration, it was strongly believed in the 16th century that in winter swallows simply went to sleep in mud on the sea bed. This may have seemed perfectly rational when compared with the contending thesis that they head for the moon each autumn. Monumental untruths such as these lived on as pieces of reasonable conjecture among European naturalists for almost three centuries.

Tim Birkhead's wonderful book 'The Wisdom of Birds' explores themes such as migration and almost every other facet of avian science. However, rather than simply telling us what we now know about birds, the author prefers to explore the route by which we have reached that position. The difference may seem minor, but the implications are massive. As the story of the swallow makes plain, the intellectual journey to our present understanding has been almost as exotic and eventful as the bird's own transcontinental odyssey.

One fundamental problem, which still impacts strongly on science, is of precedent and authority. Over the whole of the natural sciences, for centuries, spread the all-embracing but deadening shadow of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, arguably the world's first ornithologist. Such was his reputation as the father of knowledge that most medieval scholars thought natural science involved little more than repeating or plagiarising his voluminous writings. Unfortunately, Aristotle got it spectacularly wrong almost as often as he was uncannily correct.

A major change was set in motion in 1676, with the publication of John Ray's book 'Ornithology', an attempt to summarise all that was known about birds. With its antiquated English style and hopelessly crude illustrations, it is easy to overlook its significance. Ray named 500 birds and posited that there might be another 170 species left to discover worldwide; in fact, he was out by a margin of 9,330. Yet Ray asked most of the important questions that have subsequently engaged scientists. He also actually went on to discover the facts with his own eyes and ears. Often controversy raged over key questions simply because naturalists were too lazy or arrogant to investigate for themselves.

The problem of unquestioning self-faith continued into the next century. The naturalist Daines Barrington was convinced that swallows passed the winter cocooned in subaquatic mud, despite never having witnessed it himself. His science consisted of arguing from a priori assumptions and rubbishing the ideas of those who produced hard empirical evidence. In response to reports of swallows landing in large numbers on ships in mid-ocean, Barrington dismissed the observations and argued that, far from supporting the idea of migration, they proved that the birds were incapable of flying across the sea.

Birkhead demonstrates the importance of birds, not only to our understanding of natural science, but also more widely in helping us to orient ourselves to the whole of life. Birds help shape the way we see the world and even ourselves. No matter how we misinterpret or skew the facts, birds will continue to fly through our imaginations, leading us towards a kind of wisdom as they go.

What point is made about our ancestors' beliefs concerning birds?

APeople found it possible to believe conflicting claims.

BIt is difficult to understand why they were taken seriously.

CMany of them came surprisingly close to the truth.

DThey seemed just as likely to be true as the reality.

What is the focus of Birkhead's book?

Adevelopments in the way that knowledge is gained

Bcurrent knowledge about the behaviour of birds

Chow mistaken ideas can develop over time

Dchanges in the collection of data about birds

What point does the reviewer make in the third paragraph?

AMedieval scholars frequently copied each other's work.

BIt is necessary to question generally held beliefs.

CUncertainty has replaced the certainty of the middle ages.

DFew ornithologists have achieved as much as Aristotle did.

According to the fourth paragraph, John Ray's book

Ais more important than a first impression would suggest.

Bshows that almost nothing was known about birds when it was written.

Cis the most comprehensive book on birds ever written.

Dshows that most studies of the time were based on evidence.

The reviewer refers to swallows landing on ships in mid-ocean to show that

Amuch evidence about birds could be interpreted in more than one way.

Berrors were often made in experiments into the behaviour of birds.

Cbeliefs about birds were rarely changed in the light of fresh evidence.

Devidence concerning birds' behaviour proved difficult to find.

What point does the reviewer make in the sixth paragraph?

AFacts and imagination with regard to birds have become confused.

BFurther study of the behaviour of birds is necessary.

CThe role of birds in the natural world is often misunderstood.

DThe study of birds helps us to make sense of the world.

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