The text has 5 paragraphs (A - E).
Which paragraph contains each of the following pieces of information?
1 A possible security problem
2 The cost of M-Pesa
3 An international service similar to M-Pesa
4 The fact that most Kenyans do not have a bank account
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q1: A possible security problem | D. Mobile phone growth in Kenya, as in most of Africa, has been remarkable, even among the rural poor. In June 1999, Kenya had 15,000 mobile subscribers. Today, it has nearly 8 million out of a population of 35 million, and the two operators’ networks are as extensive as the access to banks is limited. Safaricom says it is not so much competing with financial services companies as filling a void. In time, M-Pesa will allow people to borrow and repay money, and make purchases. Companies will be able to pay salaries directly into workers’ phones - something that has already attracted the interest of larger employers, such as the tea companies, whose workers often have to be paid in cash as they do not have bank accounts. There are concerns about security, but Safaricom insists that even if someone’s phone is stolen, the PIN system prevents unauthorised withdrawals. Mr. Joseph said the only danger is sending cash to the wrong mobile number and the recipient redeeming it straight away. |
Note: The keyword to answer Q1 is ‘security problem, which can be found easily in paragraph D. It is written in the passage that there are concerns about security when using mobile phones to transfer money. Therefore, the answer is D. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q2: The cost of M-Pesa | C. M-Pesa’s is simple. There is no need for a new handset or SIM card. To send money, you hand over the cash to a registered agent - typically a retailer - who credits your virtual account. You then send between 100 shillings (74p) and 35,000 shillings (£259) via text message to the desired recipient - even someone on a different mobile network - who cashes it at an agent by entering a secret code and showing ID. A commission of up to 170 shillings (£1.25) is paid by the recipient but it compares favourably with fees levied by the major banks, whose services are too expensive for most of the population. |
Note The keywords to answer Q2 are "cost" and "M-Pesa". The needed information to answer this question is in paragraph C. According to this paragraph, M-Pesa is a service that helps people send money via mobile phone. For each time you send, they will charge you a commission (the cost) of up to 170 shillings. Therefore, the answer is C. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q3 An international service similar to M-Pesa | E. The project is being watched closely by mobile operators around the world as a way of targeting the multibillion pound international cash transfer industry long dominated by companies such as Western Union and Moneygram. Remittances sent from nearly 200 million migrant workers to developing countries totalled £102 billion last year, according to the World Bank. The GSM Association, which represents more than 700 mobile operators worldwide, believes this could quadruple by 2012 if transfers by SMS become the norm. Vodafone has entered a partnership with Citigroup that will soon allow Kenyans in the UK to send money home via text message. The charge for sending £50 is expected to be about £3, less than a third of what some traditional services charge. |
Note The keywords to answer Q3 is ‘international’, which can be found in paragraph E. According to the passage, Vodafone has entered a partnership with Citygroup, which is a company that provides the service similar to M-Pesa, sending money via text message. The difference is that, M-pesa allows Kenyans to send money within the country, while Citigroup in the UK (international). For all reasons above, the answer is E. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q4 The fact that most Kenyans do not have a bank account | A. The ping of a text message has never sounded so sweet. In what is being touted as a world first, Kenya’s biggest mobile operator is allowing subscribers to send cash to other phone users by SMS. Known as M-Pesa, or mobile money, the service is expected to revolutionise banking in a country where more than 80% of people are excluded from the formal financial sector. Apart from transferring cash - a service much in demand among urban Kenyans supporting relatives in rural areas - customers of the Safaricom network will be able to keep up to 50,000 shillings (£370) in a “virtual account” on their handsets. |
Note The keywords for Q4 are ‘most Kenyans’ and ‘bank account’ which are referred to in paragraph A. As you can see from the passage, the writer stated that the service M-Pesa is expected to revolutionise banking in Kenya because more than 80% of its people (most Kenyans)are excluded from formal financial sector (not allow to go to the bank) and so, don’t have a bank account. Therefore, the answer is A. |
Complete the following sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each gap.
Safaricom is the 5 mobile phone company in Kenya.
An M-Pesa account needs to be credited by 6
7 companies are particularly interested in using M-Pesa.
Companies like Moneygram and Western Union have 8 the international money transfer market.
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q5 Safaricom is the ________ mobile phone company in Kenya. | In what is being touted as a world first, Kenya’s biggest mobile operator is allowing subscribers to send cash to other phone users by SMS. Known as M-Pesa, or mobile money, the service is expected to revolutionise banking in a country where more than 80% of people are excluded from the formal financial sector. Apart from transferring cash - a service much in demand among urban Kenyans supporting relatives in rural areas - customers of the Safaricom network will be able to keep up to 50,000 shillings (£370) in a “virtual account” on their handsets. |
Note The needed words to fill in the blank should be an adjective(before noun) To answer this question, we look for keywords “Safaricom” and “mobile phone company in Kenya.” These words can be found in paragraph A. According to the passage, customers of the Safaricom network can send cash to other phone users by SMS by using the service called M-Pesa. And this company is described as Kenya’s biggest mobile operator. Therefore, the answer for Q5 is “biggest”. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q6 An M-Pesa Account needs to be credited by _____. | M-Pesa’s is simple. There is no need for a new handset or SIM card. To send money, you hand over the cash to a registered agent - typically a retailer - who credits your virtual account. |
Note The answer should be a noun - a person (passive structure – by someone) The keyword for this question is ‘M-Pesa account’ which can be found in paragraph C. In order to send money, you have to give cash to a registered agent, who will credit your account. Therefore, the answer here is “a registered agent”. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q7 _______companies are particularly interested in using M-Pesa. | Companies will be able to pay salaries directly into workers’ phones - something that has already attracted the interest of larger employers, such as the tea companies, whose workers often have to be paid in cash as they do not have bank accounts. |
Note The answer should be a noun/ an adjective(a kind of companies) The keyword here is ‘companies’ and “interested in using M-Pesa”. You can find this in paragraph D In the passage, it is stated that being able to pay salaries directly into workers’ phone has attracted the interest of many companies, such as tea companies because their workers often have to be paid in cash as they do not have bank accounts. Therefore, the answer is “tea”. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q8 Companies like Moneygram and Western Union have _______ the international money transfer market. | The project is being watched closely by mobile operators around the world as a way of targeting the multibillion-pound international cash transfer industry long dominated by companies such as Western Union and Moneygram. |
Note The answer should be a verb in past participle form (have + PP) The keyword here is ‘Moneygram and Western Union’, and information about these 2 companies is found in paragraph E.It is stated that the multibillion-pound international cash transfer industry has long been dominated by companies like these 2. Therefore, the answer is “dominated”. |
Do the statements on the next page agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 9 - 13 on 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 |
9 Most Kenyans working in urban areas have relatives in rural areas.
10 So far, most of the people using M-Pesa have used it to send small amounts of money.
11 M-Pesa can only be used by people using one phone network.
12 M-Pesa can be used to buy products and services.
13 The GSM Association is a consumer organisation.
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q9 Most Kenyans working in urban areas have relatives in rural areas. | Apart from transferring cash - a service much in demand among urban Kenyans supporting relatives in rural areas - customers of the Safaricom network will be able to keep up to 50,000 shillings (£370) in a “virtual account” on their handsets. |
Note According to the passage, the service is useful for those urban Kenyans to send money to their relatives in rural areas. However, the passage doesn’t mention the number of Kenyans who have relatives in rural areas. Therefore, the answer is NOT GIVEN. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q10 So far, most of the people using M-Pesa have used it to send small amounts of money. | More than 10,000 people have signed up for the service, with around 8 million shillings transferred so far, mostly in tiny denominations. |
Note According to the passage, more than 10,000 people have used the service to transfer around 8 million shillings but mostly in tiny (small) denomination (value of money). Therefore, the answer is TRUE. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q11 M-Pesa can only be used by people using one phone network. | You then send between 100 shillings (74p) and 35,000 shillings (£259) via text message to the desired recipient - even someone on a different mobile network - who cashes it at an agent by entering a secret code and showing ID. |
Note As we can see from the passage, the service allows people to transfer money to anyone via text message, not only people on the same network but also those on a different mobile network. For that reason, the answer is FALSE. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q12 M-Pesa can be used to buy products and services. | Safaricom says it is not so much competing with financial services companies as filling a void. In time, M-Pesa will allow people to borrow and repay money, and make purchases. |
Note Soon enough, M-Pesa will allow people to borrow and repay money, and make purchases.However, right now we can only use it to transfer money. For that reason, we can conclude that the answer is FALSE. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q13 The GSM Association is a consumer organisation. | The GSM Association, which represents more than 700 mobile operators worldwide, believes this could quadruple by 2012 if transfers by SMS become the norm. |
Note According to the passage, GSM is an association that represents mobile operators, not customers. Therefore, the answer of Q13 is FALSE. |
The text has 7 paragraphs (A - G).
Which paragraph does each of the following headings best fit?
14 Don't wait!
15 Team up
16 Join a club
17 Use public transport
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q14: Don't wait! | B. Why wait until you are forced off the road by costly charges? You may enjoy the convenience of your car, but the truth is that for huge numbers of people, owning a car makes little financial sense. You'd be far better off giving it up and relying on other forms of transport. "I'm 47 and I've never owned a car, despite having a job that requires me to travel all over the South-East to visit clients," says Donnachadh McCarthy, an environmental expert who specialises in advising people how to be greener. "A car is a huge financial commitment, as well as being a psychological addiction. Not owning a vehicle is far more practical than most people realise." |
Note Paragraphs B tells us not to wait until we are forced off the road by the costly charges from the government. For that reason, we can conclude that the answer for Q14 is B. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q15 Team up | G. Car sharing is an increasingly popular option for people making the same journeys regularly - to and from work, for example. Many companies run schemes that help colleagues who live near to each other and work in the same place to contact each other so they can share the journey to work. Liftshare and Carshare are two national organisations that maintain online databases of people who would be prepared to team up. Other people may be able to replace part or all of their journey to work - or any journeys, for that matter - with low-cost transport such as a bicycle, or even by just walking. The more you can reduce your car use, however you gain access to it, the more you will save. |
Note In paragraph G, they pointed out that if people who make the same journeys regularly, they should share the car to save money, and that is team up. Therefore, the answer is G. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q16 Join a club | F. Streetcar, one of several "car clubs" with growing numbers of members, reckons that using its vehicles twice a week, every week, for a year, would cost you just £700. Streetcar's model works very similarly to those of its main rivals, City Car Club and Whizzgo. These three companies, which now operate in 20 of Britain's towns and cities, charge their members a refundable deposit - £150 at Streetcar - and then provide them with an electronic smart card. This enables members to get into the vehicles, which are left parked in set locations, and the keys are then found in the glove compartment. Members pay an hourly rate for the car - £4.95 is the cost at Streetcar - and return it to the same spot, or to a different designated parking place. |
Note The topic sentence of paragraph F tells us the topic of this paragraph: join a car club with a low cost. Therefore, the answer is F. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q17 Use public transport | E. Take the cost of public transport, for example. In London, the most expensive city in the UK, the most expensive annual travel card, allowing travel in any zone at any time, costs just over £1,700. You could give up your car and still have thousands of pounds to spare to spend on occasional car hire. In fact, assuming that you have the most expensive travel card in London, you could hire a cheap car from a company, such as easyCar for about 30 weeks a year, and still be better off overall than if you own your own vehicle. Not that car hire is necessarily the most cost-effective option for people who are prepared to do without a car but may still need to drive occasionally. |
Note The information in paragraph E pointed out people can save a lot of money if they take the public transport. Therefore, the answer for Q17 is E. |
According to the text, FIVE of the following statements are true.
Write the corresponding letters in answer boxes 18 to 22 in any order.
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
From Q18 to Q22, we can use a technique called scanning (look for a particular word or phrase, they can be some personal, place names or the name of a brand, a conference,etc.) to locate where the correct answer is. To answer this kind of question, you need to cross out 3 wrong choices. You should find the clues which can prove whether an option is correct or not to identify the wrong and right choices. | |
A– McCarthy claims people can become addicted to using cars. | "I'm 47 and I've never owned a car, despite having a job that requires me to travel all over the South-East to visit clients," says Donnachadh McCarthy, an environmental expert who specialises in advising people how to be greener. "A car is a huge financial commitment, as well as being a psychological addiction. Not owning a vehicle is far more practical than most people realise." |
Note From the passage, we can see that McCarthy said that a car is a huge financial commitment and also a psychological addiction, which means people may get addicted to using cars. For that reason, A is CORRECT.. | |
B- The cost of using a car rose by over ten per cent last year. | The estimate is that the cost of running a car rose by more than ten per cent last year alone. |
As we can see here, It is clear that the cost of running a car rose byc over (more than) 10% last year. For that reason, B is CORRECT. | |
C- Most British people borrow money to help to buy cars. | The cost of finance packages, which most people have to resort to to pay for at least part of the price of a new car, has also been rising - to an average of £1,040 a year. |
Note The content of F is confirmed in the passage, most people choose to buy cars with the finance packages (it means they will pay for a part of the price and borrow the rest and pay later.) Therefore, C is CORRECT. | |
D - Many people need cars to drive in London occasionally. | Not that car hire is necessarily the most cost-effective option for people who are prepared to do without a car but may still need to drive occasionally. |
Note It is stated in the passage that some people need to drive cars occasionally but they don’t mention the number of people who have to do so. Therefore, D is incorrect. | |
E- Streetcar operates in over 20 cities in Britain. | Streetcar's model works very similarly to those of its main rivals, City Car Club and Whizzgo. These three companies, which now operate in 20 of Britain's towns and cities, charge their members a refundable deposit - £150 at Streetcar - and then provide them with an electronic smart card. |
Note It is clear in the passage that streetcar operates in 20 cities and towns in Britain, not over 20 cities. Therefore, E is incorrect. | |
F- Streetcar’s cars must be left at specific locations. | Members pay an hourly rate for the car - £4.95 is the cost at Streetcar - and return it to the same spot, or to a different designated parking place. |
Note As we can see in the passage, if they take the streetcar, they have to pay the cost and then return the car to the same spot or a designated place, not a random place. Therefore, F is CORRECT. | |
G – Car sharing is becoming more popular with people who live and work near each other. | Car sharing is an increasingly popular option for people making the same journeys regularly - to and from work, for example. |
Note It is confirmed in the passage that people who live and work near each other (make same journeys regularly) usually choose car sharing. Therefore, G is CORRECT. | |
H- The government wants to encourage people to go to work on foot or by bicycle. | Other people may be able to replace part or all of their journey to work - or any journeys, for that matter - with low-cost transport such as a bicycle, or even by just walking. |
Note In the passage, it is the author that suggests people replace cars by riding bicycle or walking (on foot), not the government. Therefore, H is incorrect. | |
Note for Q18-22 All thing considered, the answers for Q18-22 are A, B, C, F, G |
According to the information given in the text, choose the correct answer or answers from the choices given.
The government has decided
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
From Q23 to Q26, we continue to use scanning to locate where the correct answer is You should read the questions and answers first, underline keywords, and then read the passage to find the correct answer or answers (You can choose more than one correct answers) | |
Q23: The government has decided A. not to follow protestors’ suggestions. B. to become more democratic. C. to go ahead with charging drivers to use roads. | They may have signed an online petition against road pricing, but ministers are determined to push ahead with plans to make it more expensive to drive. The Government is convinced that this is the only way to reduce congestion and the environmental damage caused by motoring. |
Note: In the passage, it is stated the people have signed an online petition against road pricing but the government didn’t approve, so option A is correct. The government pushed ahead with plans to make driving become more expensive (changing drivers more money), so option C is also correct. Also, nothing is mentioned about option B, therefore it is incorrect. For all the reasons above, the answer are ‘A, C’. |
Cars are often
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q24: Cars are often A. relatively cheap in Britain. B. relatively expensive to operate in Britain. C. sold second-hand in Britain | It may seem as if cars have never been cheaper. After all, it is now possible to buy a brand new car for less than £4,800 - the Perodua Kelisa, if you're interested. There are plenty of decent vehicles you can buy straight from the showroom for between £5,000 and £7,000. Of course, if you buy second-hand, the prices will be even lower. However, the falling purchase price of cars masks the fact that it has never been more expensive to own and run a vehicle. The estimate is that the cost of running a car rose by more than ten per cent last year alone. The annual cost of running your own vehicle is pul at an average of £5,539, or £107 a week. |
Note According to this paragraph, now it is very cheap to buy a car in Britain, so A is correct However, it is much more expensive to own and run (operate) a car, so B is correct. Cars can be bought second-hand but it is not mentioned in the passage that they are often sold, so C in incorrect Therefore, the answer are A, B. |
Fuel costs
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q25: Fuel costs A. make up about 20% of the cost of running a car. B. are related to the amount drivers pay for their cars. C. depend on how far you drive. | While drivers who do less or more than the average mileage each year will spend correspondingly less or more, many of the costs of ear ownership are fixed - and therefore unavoidable. …… Only fuel costs are truly variable. While petrol prices are the most visible indicator of the cost of running a car, for the typical driver they account for less than one fifth of the real costs each year. In other words, leaving aside all the practical and psychological barriers to giving up your car, in financial terms, doing so makes sense for many people. |
Note According to the passage, fuel costs account for (make up) one fifth (20%) of the real cost each year, so A is correct. In terms of option B, no information is given, so B is incorrect. The author also pointed out that drivers who do less or more than the average mileage (how far you drive) will spend correspondingly less or more. So C is correct. For all reasons above, the answer are A, C. |
Using public transport
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Q26: Using public transport A. will save money for British motorists, except in London. B. and renting a car part of the time can save money C. costs Londoners about £1,700 a year. | Take the cost of public transport, for example. In London, the most expensive city in the UK, the most expensive annual travel card, allowing travel in any zone at any time, costs just over £1,700. You could give up your car and still have thousands of pounds to spare to spend on occasional car hire. In fact, assuming that you have the most expensive travel card in London, you could hire a cheap car from a company, such as easyCar for about 30 weeks a year, and still be better off overall than if you own your own vehicle. |
Note The author suggests using public transport to save money, and London is an example, not an exception, so A is incorrect. Apart from using public transport, people can hire (rent) a car occasionally (part of the time), so B is correct. The most expensive annual travel card costs over £1,700, not that all Londoners have to spend that much money on public transport, so C is incorrect Therefore, the answer is B. |
For each question, only ONE of the choices is correct.
Write the corresponding letter in the appropriate box on your answer sheet.
The GSBF lamps
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q27: The GSBF lamps A. provide light for 100,000 Indian villages. B. are very expensive to install. C. are powered by the sun. | That all changed with the installation of low-cost, energy-efficient lamps that are powered entirely by the sun. The lights were installed by the Grameen Surya Bijli Foundation (GSBF), an Indian non-governmental organisation focused on bringing light to rural India. Some 100,000 Indian villages do not yet have electricity. | ||
Note: According to the passage, GSBF lamps are powered entirely by the sun, and for that reason, answer C is correct. In terms of option B, GSBF lamps are low-cost, not expensive. Therefore, B is also incorrect. Turning to option A, there are 100,000 Indian villages that do not yet have electricity not that they are provided light by GSBF lamps, so A is incorrect. All thing considered, the answer is C. |
More than half of India’s population uses
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q28:More than half of India’s population uses A. kerosene as a cooking fuel. B. biomass as a cooking fuel. C. solar power as a cooking fuel. | In a scenario in which nearly 60 per cent of India’s rural population uses 180 million tons of biomass per year for cooking via primitive wood stoves - which are smoky and provide only 10-15 per cent efficiency in cooking -Jhunjhunwalaemphasises the need for a clean energy source, not just for lighting but for other domestic purposes as well. | ||
Note According to this paragraph, nearly 60% (more than half) of India’s population uses biomass for cooking. Therefore, the answer is B. |
In India, the GSBF lamps are too expensive for most people
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q29: In India, the GSBF lamps are too expensive for most people A. in rural areas. B. in urban areas. C. in all areas. | However, the remote locations of the village will make reaching this goal difficult. A. K. Lakhina, the chairman of India’s Rural Electrification Corporation, says the Indian government recognises the potential of LED lighting powered by solar technology, but expressed reservations about its high costs. “If only LEDs weren't imported but manufactured locally,” he says, “and in bulk. | ||
Note According to the passage, LEDS are expensive due to remote locations, therefore, it will be hard for people in rural area to use this lamp For that reason, the answer is A. |
The GSBF lamps
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q30: The GSBF lamps A. are not as reliable as electricity from the national power grid. B. require skill to use. C. only provide four hours of light a day. | In villages near Khadakwadi, the newly installed LED lamps are a subject of envy, even for those connected to the grid. Those connected to the grid have to face power cuts up to 6 or 7 hours a day. Constant energy shortages and blackouts are a common problem due to a lack of power plants, transmission, and distribution losses caused by old technology and illegal stealing of electricity from the grid. LED systems require far less maintenance, a longer life, and as villagers jokingly say, “no electricity bills”. The lamps provided by GSBF have enough power to provide just four hours of light a day. | ||
Note As you can see from the passage, GSBF lamps are more reliable than electricity as those connected to the national power grid have to face power cuts up to 6 or 7 hours a day. Therefore, A is incorrect. LED system is a subject of envy because it require less maintenance, which means it’s easier to use, so B is also incorrect. It is clearly stated that this lamp only provide 4 hours of light. Therefore, the answer is C. |
Complete the following sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each gap.
Another example of cheap technology helping poor people in the countryside is 31
Kerosene lamps and conventional bulbs give off less 32 than GSBF lamps.
It is unlikely that the Indian government will achieve its aim of connecting 112,000 villages to electricity because many villages are 33
GSBF lamps would be cheaper if it weren’t for 34
Users need to wipe 35 from the LED in order to keep it working well.
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q31 Another example of cheap technology helping poor people in the countryside is ___________ | LED lighting, like cell phones, is another example of a technology whose low cost could allow the rural poor to leap into the 21st century. | ||
Note The needed words to fill in the blank should be a noun (another example is …) To answer this question, we look for some form of cheap technology that helps poor people in the countryside. According to the passage, LED lightning and cell phones are 2 examples of a technology whose low cost could allow the rural poor to leap into the 21st century. The passage in mainly about LED, so another example here is ‘cell phones’ Therefore, the answer for Q31 is “cell phones”. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q32 Kerosene lamps and conventional bulbs give off less ________ than GSBF lamps. | LED lamps, or more specifically white LEDs, are believed to produce nearly 200 times more useful light than a kerosene lamp and almost 50 times the amount of useful light of a conventional bulb. | ||
Note The answer should be a noun (after give off sth) The keywords for this question are ‘Kerosene lamps’ and ‘ conventional bulbs’ And as we can see from the passage, LED can produce more useful light than Kerosene lamps and conventional bulbs. Therefore, the answer here is “useful light”. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q33 It is unlikely that the Indian government will achieve its aim of connecting 112,000 villages to electricity because many villages are _______ | The Indian government in April launched an ambitious project to bring electricity to 112,000 rural villages in the next decade. However, the remote locations of the village will make reaching this goal difficult. A. K. Lakhina, the chairman of India’s Rural Electrification Corporation, says the Indian government recognises the potential of LED lighting powered by solar technology, but expressed reservations about its high costs. | ||
Note The answer should be an adjective (after to be). In the passage, it is the goal of bringing electricity to 112,000 rural villages will be difficult to reach because of the remote locations. Therefore, the answer is“remote”. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q34 GSBF lamps would be cheaper if it weren’t for _____ | The lamps installed in nearly 300 homes by GSBF cost nearly half the price of other solar lighting systems. Jasjeet Singh Chadha, the founder of the NGO, currently imports his LEDs from China. He wants to set up an LED manufacturing unit and a solar panel manufacturing unit in India. If manufactured locally, the cost of his LED lamp could plummet to $22, as they will not incur heavy import duties. | ||
Note The answer of Q34 is a noun. (after preposition ‘for’) As you can see in the passage, the lamp would be cheaper if manufactured locally, because they will not incur heavy import duties. Therefore, the answer is “(heavy) import duties”. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q35 Users need to wipe_____from the LED in order to keep it working well. | An official from GSBF instructs Jadhav and his family to clean the lamp regularly. “Its luminosity and life will diminish if you let the dust settle on it,” he warns them. | ||
Note The answer might be a noun. To answer this question, we use scanning, looking for the keyword “wipe sth from”. As can be seen from the passage, we have to clean the lamp regularly because its luminosity and life will diminish (not work well) if we let the dust settle on it. Therefore, the answer should be “dust”. |
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 36 - 40 on 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 |
36 Ganpat Jadhav’s monthly ration of kerosene was insufficient.
37 Kerosene causes many fires in homes in developing countries.
38 LED systems could solve the world’s energy problems.
39 Chaddha has so far funded the GSBF lamp project himself.
40 Microcredit would help to get more people to use LED lamps.
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q36 Ganpat Jadhav's monthly ration of kerosene was insufficient. | Inside his mud-and-clay home, Ganpat Jadhav's three children used to study in the dim, smoky glow of a kerosene lamp, when their monthly fuel quota of four litres dried up in just a fortnight, they had to strain their eyes using the light from a cooking fire. | ||
Note According to the passage, Ganpat Jadhav's children had to strain their eyes using the light from a cooking fire and their monthly fuel quota of four litres dried up, with means it was insufficient. Therefore, the answer is TRUE. |
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Q37 Kerosene causes many fires in homes in developing countries. | As many as 1.5 billion people - nearly 80 million in India alone - light their houses using kerosene as the primary lighting media. The fuel is dangerous, dirty, and - despite being subsidised - consumes nearly four per cent of a typical rural Indian household’s budget. A recent report by the Intermediate Technology Development Group suggests that indoor air pollution from such lighting media results in 1.6 million deaths worldwide every year. | ||
Note As we can see from the passage, Kerosene used in homes is dangerous, but nothing was mentioned about this fuel causes any fires in developing countries. For that reason, the answer is NOT GIVEN. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q38 LED systems could solve the world’s energy problems. | “LED systems are revolutionising rural lighting, but this isn’t a magic solution to the world’s energy problems,” says Ashok Jhunjhunwala, head of the electrical engineering department at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. | ||
Note In the passage, Ashok Jhunjhunwala says that LED systems are not a magic solution, which mean they couldn’t solve the world’s problems. For that reason, we can conclude that the answer is FALSE. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q39 Chaddha has so far funded the GSBF lamp project himself. | Jasjeet Singh Chadha, the founder of the NGO, currently imports his LEDs from China. He wants to set up an LED manufacturing unit and a solar panel manufacturing unit in India. If manufactured locally, the cost of his LED lamp could plummet to $22, as they will not incur heavy import duties. “We need close to $5 million for this,” he says. Mr. Chaddha says he has also asked the government to exempt the lamps from such duties, but to no avail. An entrepreneur who made his money in plastics, Chaddha, has poured his own money into the project, providing the initial installations free of charge. | ||
Note From the passage, we can see Chaddha has poured his money (funded) the GSBF project. Therefore, the answer is TRUE. |
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage | ||
Q40 Microcredit would help to get more people to use LED lamps. | The rural markets in India cannot afford it, he says, until the prices are brought down. The rural markets would be able to afford it, says Mr. Irvine-Halliday, if they had access to microcredit. He says that in Tembisa, a shanty town in Johannesburg, he found that almost 10,000 homes spent more than $60 each on candles and paraffin every year. As calculations revealed, these families can afford to purchase a solid state lighting system in just over a year of paying per week what they would normally spend on candles and paraffin - if they have access to microcredit. LUTW is in the process of creating such a microcredit facility for South Africa. | ||
Note It is stated in the passage that is people in rural area had access to microcredit they would be able to afford LED lamps, so it is microcredit that helps more people to use the lamp. Therefore, the answer of Q40 is TRUE. |
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 -13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
A. The ping of a text message has never sounded so sweet. In what is being touted as a world first, Kenya’s biggest mobile operator is allowing subscribers to send cash to other phone users by SMS. Known as M-Pesa, or mobile money, the service is expected to revolutionise banking in a country where more than 80% of people are excluded from the formal financial sector. Apart from transferring cash - a service much in demand among urban Kenyans supporting relatives in rural areas - customers of the Safaricom network will be able to keep up to 50,000 shillings (£370) in a “virtual account” on their handsets.
B. Developed by Vodafone, which holds a 35% share in Safaricom, M-Pesa was formally launched in Kenya two weeks ago. More than 10,000 people have signed up for the service, with around 8 million shillings transferred so far, mostly in tiny denominations. Safaricom’s executives are confident that growth will be strong in Kenya, and later across Africa. “We are effectively giving people ATM cards without them ever having to open a real bank account,” said Michael Joseph, chief executive of Safaricom, who called the money transfer concept the “next big thing” in mobile telephony.
C. M-Pesa’s is simple. There is no need for a new handset or SIM card. To send money, you hand over the cash to a registered agent - typically a retailer - who credits your virtual account. You then send between 100 shillings (74p) and 35,000 shillings (£259) via text message to the desired recipient - even someone on a different mobile network - who cashes it at an agent by entering a secret code and showing ID. A commission of up to 170 shillings (£1.25) is paid by the recipient but it compares favourably with fees levied by the major banks, whose services are too expensive for most of the population.
D. Mobile phone growth in Kenya, as in most of Africa, has been remarkable, even among the rural poor. In June 1999, Kenya had 15,000 mobile subscribers. Today, it has nearly 8 million out of a population of 35 million, and the two operators’ networks are as extensive as the access to banks is limited. Safaricom says it is not so much competing with financial services companies as filling a void. In time, M-Pesa will allow people to borrow and repay money, and make purchases. Companies will be able to pay salaries directly into workers’ phones - something that has already attracted the interest of larger employers, such as the tea companies, whose workers often have to be paid in cash as they do not have bank accounts. There are concerns about security, but Safaricom insists that even if someone’s phone is stolen, the PIN system prevents unauthorised withdrawals. Mr. Joseph said the only danger is sending cash to the wrong mobile number and the recipient redeeming it straight away.
E. The project is being watched closely by mobile operators around the world as a way of targeting the multibillion pound international cash transfer industry long dominated by companies such as Western Union and Moneygram. Remittances sent from nearly 200 million migrant workers to developing countries totalled £102 billion last year, according to the World Bank. The GSM Association, which represents more than 700 mobile operators worldwide, believes this could quadruple by 2012 if transfers by SMS become the norm. Vodafone has entered a partnership with Citigroup that will soon allow Kenyans in the UK to send money home via text message. The charge for sending £50 is expected to be about £3, less than a third of what some traditional services charge.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14 - 26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.
A. More than a million people are likely to be disappointed by their experience of the Government's attempts to improve the democratic process. They may have signed an online petition against road pricing, but ministers are determined to push ahead with plans to make it more expensive to drive. The Government is convinced that this is the only way to reduce congestion and the environmental damage caused by motoring.
B. Why wait until you are forced off the road by costly charges? You may enjoy the convenience of your car, but the truth is that for huge numbers of people, owning a car makes little financial sense. You'd be far better off giving it up and relying on other forms of transport. "I'm 47 and I've never owned a car, despite having a job that requires me to travel all over the South-East to visit clients," says Donnachadh McCarthy, an environmental expert who specialises in advising people how to be greener. "A car is a huge financial commitment, as well as being a psychological addiction. Not owning a vehicle is far more practical than most people realise."
C. It may seem as if cars have never been cheaper. After all, it is now possible to buy a brand new car for less than £4,800 - the Perodua Kelisa, if you're interested. There are plenty of decent vehicles you can buy straight from the showroom for between £5,000 and £7,000. Of course, if you buy second-hand, the prices will be even lower. However, the falling purchase price of cars masks the fact that it has never been more expensive to own and run a vehicle. The estimate is that the cost of running a car rose by more than ten per cent last year alone. The annual cost of running your own vehicle is pul at an average of £5,539, or £107 a week. While drivers who do less or more than the average mileage each year will spend correspondingly less or more, many of the costs of ear ownership are fixed - and therefore unavoidable.
D. Depreciation - the fact that your vehicle loses a large chunk of its resale value each year - is one problem, accounting for £2,420 a year. The cost of finance packages, which most people have to resort to to pay for at least part of the price of a new car, has also been rising - to an average of £1,040 a year. Then there's insurance, maintenance, tax, and breakdown insurance, all of which will cost you broadly the same amount, however many miles you do. Only fuel costs are truly variable. While petrol prices are the most visible indicator of the cost of running a car, for the typical driver they account for less than one fifth of the real costs each year. In other words, leaving aside all the practical and psychological barriers to giving up your car, in financial terms, doing so makes sense for many people.
E. Take the cost of public transport, for example. In London, the most expensive city in the UK, the most expensive annual travel card, allowing travel in any zone at any time, costs just over £1,700. You could give up your car and still have thousands of pounds to spare to spend on occasional car hire. In fact, assuming that you have the most expensive travel card in London, you could hire a cheap car from a company, such as easyCar for about 30 weeks a year, and still be better off overall than if you own your own vehicle. Not that car hire is necessarily the most cost-effective option for people who are prepared to do without a car but may still need to drive occasionally.
F. Streetcar, one of several "car clubs" with growing numbers of members, reckons that using its vehicles twice a week, every week, for a year, would cost you just £700. Streetcar's model works very similarly to those of its main rivals, Citycarclub and Whizzgo. These three companies, which now operate in 20 of Britain's towns and cities, charge their members a refundable deposit - £150 at Streetcar - and then provide them with an electronic smart card. This enables members to get into the vehicles, which are left parked in set locations, and the keys are then found in the glove compartment. Members pay an hourly rate for the car - £4.95 is the cost at Streetcar - and return it to the same spot, or to a different designated parking place.
G. Car sharing is an increasingly popular option for people making the same journeys regularly - to and from work, for example. Many companies run schemes that help colleagues who live near to each other and work in the same place to contact each other so they can share the journey to work. Liftshare and Carshare are two national organisations that maintain online databases of people who would be prepared to team up. Other people may be able to replace part or all of their journey to work - or any journeys, for that matter - with low-cost transport such as a bicycle, or even by just walking. The more you can reduce your car use, however you gain access to it, the more you will save.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27 - 40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.
Until three months ago, life in this humble village without electricity would come to a halt after sunset. Inside his mud-and-clay home, Ganpat Jadhav's three children used to study in the dim, smoky glow of a kerosene lamp, when their monthly fuel quota of four litres dried up in just a fortnight, they had to strain their eyes using the light from a cooking fire. That all changed with the installation of low-cost, energy-efficient lamps that are powered entirely by the sun. The lights were installed by the Grameen Surya Bijli Foundation (GSBF), an Indian non-governmental organisation focused on bringing light to rural India. Some 100,000 Indian villages do not yet have electricity. The GSBF lamps use LEDs - light emitting diodes - that are four times more efficient than a normal bulb. After a $55 installation cost, solar energy lights the lamp free of charge. LED lighting, like cell phones, is another example of a technology whose low cost could allow the rural poor to leap into the 21st century.
As many as 1.5 billion people - nearly 80 million in India alone - light their houses using kerosene as the primary lighting media. The fuel is dangerous, dirty, and - despite being subsidised - consumes nearly four per cent of a typical rural Indian household’s budget. A recent report by the Intermediate Technology Development Group suggests that indoor air pollution from such lighting media results in 1.6 million deaths worldwide every year. LED lamps, or more specifically white LEDs, are believed to produce nearly 200 times more useful light than a kerosene lamp and almost 50 times the amount of useful light of a conventional bulb. "This technology can light an entire rural village with less energy than that used by a single conventional 100-watt light bulb,” says Dave Irvine-Halliday, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Calgary, Canada and the founder of Light up the World Foundation (LUTW). Founded in 1997, LUTW has used LED technology to bring light to nearly 10,000 homes in remote and disadvantaged corners of some 27 countries like India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bolivia, and the Philippines.
The technology, which is not yet widely known in India, faces some scepticism here. “LED systems are revolutionising rural lighting, but this isn’t a magic solution to the world’s energy problems,” says Ashok Jhunjhunwala, head of the electrical engineering department at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. In a scenario in which nearly 60 per cent of India’s rural population uses 180 million tons of biomass per year for cooking via primitive wood stoves - which are smoky and provide only 10-15 per cent efficiency in cooking -Jhunjhunwala emphasises the need for a clean energy source, not just for lighting but for other domestic purposes as well. The Indian government in April launched an ambitious project to bring electricity to 112,000 rural villages in the next decade. However, the remote locations of the village will make reaching this goal difficult. A. K. Lakhina, the chairman of India’s Rural Electrification Corporation, says the Indian government recognises the potential of LED lighting powered by solar technology, but expressed reservations about its high costs. “If only LEDs weren't imported but manufactured locally,” he says, “and in bulk.”
The lamps installed in nearly 300 homes by GSBF cost nearly half the price of other solar lighting systems. Jasjeet Singh Chaddha, the founder of the NGO, currently imports his LEDs from China. He wants to set up an LED manufacturing unit and a solar panel manufacturing unit in India. If manufactured locally, the cost of his LED lamp could plummet to $22, as they will not incur heavy import duties. “We need close to $5 million for this,” he says. Mr. Chaddha says he has also asked the government to exempt the lamps from such duties, but to no avail. An entrepreneur who made his money in plastics, Chaddha, has poured his own money into the project, providing the initial installations free of charge. As he looks to make the project self-sustainable, he recognises that it is only urban markets -which have also shown an avid interest in LED lighting - that can pay. The rural markets in India cannot afford it, he says, until the prices are brought down. The rural markets would be able to afford it, says Mr. Irvine-Halliday, if they had access to microcredit. He says that in Tembisa, a shanty town in Johannesburg, he found that almost 10,000 homes spent more than $60 each on candles and paraffin every year. As calculations revealed, these families can afford to purchase a solid state lighting system in just over a year of paying per week what they would normally spend on candles and paraffin - if they have access to microcredit. LUTW is in the process of creating such a microcredit facility for South Africa.
In villages near Khadakwadi, the newly installed LED lamps are a subject of envy, even for those connected to the grid. Those connected to the grid have to face power cuts up to 6 or 7 hours a day. Constant energy shortages and blackouts are a common problem due to a lack of power plants, transmission, and distribution losses caused by old technology and illegal stealing of electricity from the grid. LED systems require far less maintenance, a longer life, and as villagers jokingly say, “no electricity bills”. The lamps provided by GSBF have enough power to provide just four hours of light a day. However, that is enough for people to get their work done in the early hours of the night, and is more reliable than light generated off India’s electrical grid. Villagers are educated by GSBF officials to make the most of the new lamps. An official from GSBF instructs Jadhav and his family to clean the lamp regularly. “Its luminosity and life will diminish if you let the dust settle on it,” he warns them.
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