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Unit 9

Section I

Match each underlined world in the following passage with a suitable definition from the list given below. Write the word you choose for each item in the table provided.

Some things in life are .....

WORTH THE WAIT

By AL MARTINEZ

I am an impatient man, given to fits of pique if the requirements of my life are not met with substantial speed. I don't miss deadlines, I'm never late for appointments, and God help anyone who tries (1) to muscle in front of me in the supermarket checkout line.

I mention my impatience so you may understand how I might (2) respond to a roadblock. It happened on a mountain road near my home in Southern California. A young man halted me at a barricade to say there would be a half-hour delay. The next five minutes were spent fidgeting: with papers in my briefcase, with the radio, with things in my wallet. I took everything from the glove compartment, the returned it. I sighed and stared out the window.

Cars lined up behind me, and drivers began getting out. It wasn't a bad idea. I'd rather (3) pace than sit. Clusters of motorists had gathered along the roadside. someone took pictures. The delay had become an event. It was that way in my neighborhood during the last flood, when the road was (4) out and the power gone. People came out of their houses to talk. Others shared wine by lantern light and cooked over fireplaces.

What does it take to get us talking? What does it take to bring us together, snatching at the small alliances that form when the wind howls or when the traffic stops? We have so little time for one another.

A voice came over the barricade attendant's walkie-talkie. "Okay," he said. "The road's (5) clear."

I glanced at my watch. Fifty-five minutes had passed. I couldn't believe I had remained (6) still that long without going crazy.

List of Possible Definitions

push	walk	open
behave	closed	answer
away	bend	calm

Word From Passage	Defining Word
1. muscle 2. respond 3. pace 4. out 5. clear 6. still	1. .......................................... 2. .......................................... 3. .......................................... 4. .......................................... 5. .......................................... 6. .........................................

Section II

Use the information in the following text to answer the questions which follow it. Write your answers in the space provided.

THE ROYAL CAR

Bangkok was once known as the Venice of the East because of its extensive use of waterways as the major means of transport. Otherwise, people would just walk or use carts.

Paved roads like those in the West were first built during the reign of King Rama V, including New Road (Charoen Krung) and Bamrung Muang Road. Long before automobiles were imported to Thailand and the headache-inducing traffic congestion of today, horse-drawn carriages were introduced during the early Rattanakosin
period through growing contact with the West.

There's no evidence indicating exactly when the first horse-drawn carriage was used in Thailand. But a letter written by King Rama IV clearly shows horse-drawn carriages already existed in Thailand at that time. The letter detailed a carriage accident in the Royal Grand Palace compound when the King was maneuvering the horse with his four sons sitting in the carriage. The horse went wild for some reason. When His Majesty tried to pull the reins, one of the straps broke and he lost control. The carriage hit a tree and His Majesty and other passengers were all sent tumbling to the ground. One of the passengers, who was later to become King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), suffered several bruises and three cuts to the head.

In those days, only the King and Royal Family owned carriages. Not even millionaires owned them as there were no roads available for horse-drawn carriages. The only well-paved roads were those in and around the Grand Palace.

During the reign of King Rama V, after His Majesty returned from Europe in 1897, he ordered several carriages be made and imported to Thailand. Chao Phraya Thevesvongvivat and Pranitespanich, the Thai consul to Singapore, were assigned to buy foreign-bred horses to draw the carriages.

The carriages ordered by His Majesty were mostly made in England and specially designed with Thai decorations. These motifs feature proudly on the carriage bodies, wheel hubs and lamps. The lamp glass was beautifully engraved with His Majesty's emblem. One pair featured elephant heads, the only such set in the world
and now well-kept in one of the palaces within the Vimanmek Mansion Museum compound

Horse-drawn carriages were used for many occasions during the reign of King Rama V, including the opening of the parliamentary session. The King rode in the Glass State Coach, drawn by eight horses and attended by four postilions with two brake-men in the back to help stop the carriage. This royal carriage was said to weigh about three tons.

A Royal Stable was established in the reign of King Rama VI. It was responsible for the care of the carriages as well as the horses. Horse-drawn carriages were still in use until the reign of King Rama VIII when cars became popular and totally replaced carriages for transport. These treasures were kept bur remained neglected.

The Royal Household Bureau recently ordered the restoration of all royal horse-drawn carriages, establishing a new museum in the Dusit Palace compound where they have been put on public display. The Royal Carriage Museum is now an interesting addition to a visit to Vimanmek Mansion Museum. Thirteen royal carriages have been refurbished and are on display and more are undergoing restoration.

1. One factor which led to the introduction of horse-drawn carriages was the increase in the number of good road. What was the other?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2. Why is it certain that horse-drawn carriages were introduced to Thailand before the reign of Rama IV?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

3. Why was the use of horse-drawn carriages limited to the Royal Family?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

4. In what ways did Rama V show his interest in horse-drawn carriages?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Section III

Read the passage below and them answer the questions which follow it.

FIRES OF DESTRUCTION AND CREATION

The ancient volcano had been dormant for more than 600 years, but in June 1991 Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines shock itself awake with a series of violent eruptions. The outbursts blasted up to 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. Hot pumice rained from the sky. A gray mushroom cloud rose 20 miles above the volcano, blotting out the sun. Fallen ash created a pale, moonlike landscape. "It looks like the end of the world," said one of the more than 100,000 people who fled for their lives.	6
Winds carried the volcanic haze westward around the world. Within week, millions of people began noticing spectacular sunsets of eerie colors ar the fine cloud filtered the sun's light.	9
But this world-circling volcanic veil does more than color our sunsets. It also prevents large amounts of sunlight from reaching and warming the earth. Scientists at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimated that Pinatubo's haze is thick enough to cool average worldwide temperatures by about one degree Fahrenheit for several years. "The volcanic particles are too high in the atmosphere to be removed by rain," explains NOAA scientist Larry Stowe. A change of one degree may seem small, but it is enough to influence global winds and ocean currents.	16
It would not be the first time this has appended. In 1815 Mount Tambora near Java erupted, making a stark impact on weather. Summer crops in France failed, causing food shortages. On the east coast of the United States, it snowed in June, and in July many in the normally hot American South awoke to find their fields white with frost. The cold touch of a volcano's hot breath made 1816 what came to be called "the year without a summer."	22
Volcanoes may trigger other strange weather. In 1982, El Chichon erupted in Mexico and Nyamlagira in Africa. Soon trade winds near the equator weakened, letting warm water wash eastward from the Western Pacific Ocean a phenomenon called the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). What followed was devastating drought in South Afraic, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia. Cyclones raged across the Pacific, and heavy rains flooded Peru, Ecuador and the U.S. West Coast.	28
Physicist Paul Handler of the University of Illinois believes that volcanic eruptions cause ENSOs by dimming sunlight over the tropical Pacific. This is what weakens the trade winds and tips the delicate balance. He points out that 11 strong ENSOs that have occurred since 1877 coincided with volcanic eruptions.	32
Since Pinatubo ejected more than twice the gas of El Chichon, Handler predicted that the eruption would produce an ENSO in 1991-92 that will end the lingering drought in California and America's Midwest, but bring increased risks of drought to the African Sahel, India and Australia.	36
Gases that are released from volcanoes can kill people e.g. when Mount Vesuvius near the Roman city of Pompeii erupted in A.D. 79, many of the thousands of victims died from an avalanche of carbon dioxide and other hot gases that rolled down and choked them.	40
Even though the volcanic eruptions bring about disaster, there are still benefits for people in many ways. Despite the risk of future explosion, volcanic regions attract farmers because crops grow wonderfully in their mineral-enriched soils. Prospectors rushed to Colorado for gold, and to Nevada for silver and to Arizona for copper, not knowing those valuable metals were produced by volcanic forces. The Antarctic volcano Mount Erebus dusts the white continent with microscopic particles of pure gold when it erupts. And volcanic conduits called kimberlite pipes in southern Africa and Siberia became depositories for diamonds squeezed from carbon in the fiery roots of volcanoes. When a man gives his beloved a diamond and gold engagement ring, he gives her the choices fruits of volcanoes.	50

หมายเหตุ หมายเลขของ line ที่นี้อาจจะไม่ตรงกับ line จริงในหน้าจอของท่าน ขึ้นนอยู่กับขนาดตัวหนังสือและหน้าจอที่ท่่านเปิดอ่าน แต่ขอให้ยึดตัวหนังสือทึบสีน้ำเงินเป็นหลัก

Questions 1 - 3 : Reference

1. The word "it" in line 10 refers to

a. world. c. veil.
b. color. d. sunlight.

2. The word "their" in line 43 refers to

a. soils. c. crops.
b. farmers. d. regions.

3. The world "it" in line 47 refers to

a. Mt. Erebus. c. Antarctic.
b. gold. d. particle.

Questions 4 - 6 : Comprehension

4. Which one of the following statements about the effects of volcanic eruptions is not true?

a. They cause strangely coloured sunsets.
b. They cause global warming.
c. They prevent sunlight reaching the earth.
d. They change ocean currents.

5. Which one of the following statements was not an effect of the eruption of Mt. Tambora?

a. Snow in the eastern United States in June.
b. Lack of food in France.
c. Frost in the southern United States in July.
d. Heavy rain in England in May.

6. Which of the following statements about the benefits of volcanoes is not true?

a. Their slopes are covered in fertile soil.
b. Valuable minerals can often be found nearby.
c. Diamonds form from the carbon produced by volcanoes.
d. Electricity can be generated from their heat.

Section IV

Read the following passage and then circle the best alternative for each question.

Secrets of Straight - A Students

They aren't always more intelligent, but they do work smarter. Here's how

By EDWIN KIESTER, JR., AND SALLY VALENTE KIESTER

Everyone knows about straight - A students. They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull grinds, their noses always stuck in a book. They're clumsy at sports and failures when it comes to the opposite sex.	3
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres? Roman is on the tennis team at her school. She also sings in the choral ensemble, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society. For two years she has maintained a 4.0 grade point average (GPA), meaning A's in every subject.	7
Melendres, now a university freshman was student-body president at his secondary school. He played soccer and basketball, exhibited at the science fair, was honored for academic excellence, character and service, did student commentaries on local television station and was valedictorian	11
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren't the only answer. "Top grades don't always go to the brightest students," declares professor of education Herbert Walberg, who has conducted major studies of super-achieving students. "Knowing how to make the most of your innate abilities counts for more. Infinitely more."	15
In fact, Walberg says, students with high I.Q.s. sometimes don't do as well as classmates with lower I.Q.s. For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to buckle down. Hard work isn't the whole story, either. "It's not how long you sit there with the books open," said one of the many A students we interviewed. "Its what you do while you're sitting." Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates.	22
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn. Here, according to education experts and students themselves, are the secrets of straight - A students. 1. Set priorities. Top students brook no intrusions on study time. Once the books are opened or the computer is booted up, phone calls go unanswered, TV shows unwatched, snacks ignored. Study is business; business comes before recreation.	28
2. Study anywhere - or everywhere. Claude Olney, a university business professor assigned to tutor failing university athletes, recalls a cross-country runner who worked out every day. Olney persuaded him to use the time to memorize biology terms. Another student posted a vocabulary list by the medicine cabinet. He learned a new word every day while brushing his teeth.	33
Among the students we interviewed, study times were strictly a matter of personal preference. Some worked late at night when the house was quiet. Others awoke early. Still others studied as soon as they came home from school when the work was fresh in their minds. All agreed, however, on the need for consistency. "Whatever I was doing, I maintained a slot every day for studying." says university student Ian McCray.	38
3. Get organized. In secondary school, McCray ran track, played rugby and was in the band and orchestra. "I was so busy, I couldn't waste time looking for a pencil or missing paper. I kept everything right where I could put my hands on it," he says. Paul Melendres maintains two folders - one for the day's assignments, another for papers completed and graded. Traci Tsuchiguchi, a super-achieving secondary school student, has another system. She immediately files the day's papers in color-coded folders by subject so they"ll be available for review at exam time.	45
Even students who don't have a private study area remain organized. A backpack or drawer keeps essential supplies together and cuts down on time-wasting searches. 4. Learn how to read. "The best class I ever took," says Christopher Campbell, "Was speed- reading. I not only increased my words per minute but also learned to look at a book's table of contents, graphs and pictures first. Then, when I began to read, I had a sense of the material, and I retained a lot more."	51
In his book Getting straight A's, Gordon W. Green, Jr., says the secret of good reading is to be "an active reader - one who continually asks questions that lead to a full understanding of the author's message." 5. Schedule your time. When a teacher assigns a long paper, Domenica Roman draws up a timetable, dividing the project into small pieces so it isn't so overwhelming. "It's like eating a steak," she says. "Your chew it one bite at a time."	57
Melendres researches and outlines a report first, then tries to complete the writing in one lone push over a weekend. "I like to get it down paper early, so I have time to polish and review." Of course, even the best students procrastinate sometimes. But when that happens, they face up to it. "Sometimes it comes down to late night," admits Christi Anderson, and athlete, student-council member and top student. "Still, if you want A's you make sure to hit the deadline."	64
6. Take good notes - and use them. "Reading the textbook is important," says Melendres, "but the text on one side and those from the teacher's lecture on the other. Then he is able to review both aspects of the assignment at once. The top students also take notes while reading the text assignment. In fact, David Cieri uses "my homemade" system in which he draws a line down the center of notebook, writes notes from the text on one side and those from the teacher's lecture on the other. Then he is able to review both aspects of the assignment at once.	71
Just before the bell rings most students close their books, put away papers, whisper to friends and get ready to rush out. Anderson uses those few minutes to write a two-or three-sentence summary of the lesson's principal points, which she scans before the next day's class.	75
7. Clean up your act. Neat papers are likely to get higher grades than sloppy ones. "The student who turns in a neat paper." says Professor Olney, "is already on the way to burger. No matter how good it really is, you can't believe it tastes good if it's presented on a messy plate."	79
8. Speak up. "If I don't understand the principle my teacher is explaining in economics, I ask him to repeat it," says Christopher Campbell. Class participation goes beyond merely asking questions, though. It's a matter of showing intellectual curiosity. In a lecture on capitalism and socialism, for example, Melendres asked the teacher how the Chinese economy could be both socialist and market-driven, without incurring some of the problems that befell the former Soviet Union. "I don't want to memorize information for tests only," says Melendres. "Better grades come from better understanding."	86
9. Study together. The value of hitting the books together was demonstrated in an experiment at the University of California at Berkeley. While a graduate student there, Uri Treisman observed a freshman calculus class in which Asian-Americans, on average, scored higher than other minority students from similar academic backgrounds. Treisman found that the Asian-Americans discussed homework problems together, tried different approaches and explained their solutions to one another.	92
The others, by contrast, studied alone, spent most of their time reading and rereading the text, and tried the same approach time after time even if it was unsuccessful. On the basis of his findings, Treisman suggested teaching group-study methods in the course. Once that was done, the groups performed equally well.	96
10. Test yourself. As part of her note-taking. Domenica Roman highlights points she thinks may be covered during exams. Later she frames tentative test questions based on those points and gives herself a written examination before test day. "If I can't answer the question satisfactorily, I go back and review," she says. Experts confirm what Roman has figured out for herself. Students who make up possible test question often find many of the same questions on the real exam and thus score higher.	103
11. Do more than you're asked. If her math teacher assigns five problems, Christi Anderson does ten. If world-history teacher assigns eight pages of reading, she reads 12. "Part of learning is practicing," says Anderson. "And the more you practice, the more you learn." THE MOST IMPORTANT "SECRET" of the super-achievers is not so secret. For almost all straight-A students, the contribution of their parents was crucial. From infancy, the parents imbued them with a love for learning. They set high standards for their kids, and held them to those standards. They encouraged their sons and daughters in their studies but did not do the work for them. In short, the parents impressed the lessons of responsibility on their kids, and the kids delivered.	112

หมายเหตุ หมายเลขของ line ที่นี้อาจจะไม่ตรงกับ line จริงในหน้าจอของท่าน ขึ้นอยู่กับขนาดตัวหนังสือและหน้าจอที่ท่่านเปิดอ่าน แต่ขอให้ยึดตัวหนังสือทึบสีน้ำเงินเป็นหลัก

Questions 1 - 3 : Reference

1. The word "they" in line 17 refers to

a. students with high IQs.
b. students who make the best of their abilities.
c. students with low IQs.
d. students who work hard.

2. The word "these" in line 21 refers to

a. students with low grades.
b. students with high grades.
c. students who study for a long time.
d. students who read a lot.

3. The word "they 'II" in line 45 refers to

a. papers.
b. files.
c. assignments.
d. colour-coded folders.

Questions 4 - 6 : Comprehension

4. Which of the following factors is most important in achieving straight-A scores?

a. Being able to make notes quickly.
b. Studying for long periods of time.
c. Understanding how to use one's inherited skills.
d. Having a very high IQ.

5. Why is it important to present work well?

a. Because tidy papers always get As.
b. Because tidiness is more important than content.
c. Because untidy papers never get As.
d. Because a tidy paper will make the content easier to understand.

6. Which of the following is not a reason for the success of Asian-American students?

a. They talk about their problems.
b. They approach their teacher more.
c. They study together.
d. They try more than one method to solve a problem.

Section V

Read the passage below and then answer the questions which follow it.

ROAD MAINTENANCE

In the Middle Ages road maintenance had been extensively under taken by the monasteries; and their dissolution compelled the state to make alternative provision. Each parish was made responsible for the roads in its own area and was compelled to appoint some (1) prominent citizen as an unpaid Surveyor of Highways whose task it was to keep the roads repaired with the aid of the labour of his parishioners, using carts and road materials compulsorily supplied by them. Everyone in the parish was compelled to labour on the highways, or to send a substitute. The Surveyors-amateurs at their tasks
and with no funds to requisition skilled aid - had to do the best they could with this reluctant labour. Commonly the work of repair was (2) perfunctorily done and anything more than casual mending was seldom attempted. Efforts towards improvement of the highways were no more than (3) sporadic and inevitably ineffective.

Then came the first experimental use of the new method to make road users themselves pay for the upkeep of the roads - the turnpike system. Turnpike Trusts were empowered to erect turnpikes, or toll-gates, levy tolls on all vehicles using the roads, and with these (4) revenues maintain and improve the roads. Although this system undoubtedly produced better roads, it was by no means universally applied. Few but main roads were turnpikes, and since some of the Trusts were badly and even (5) fraudulently managed, the turnpikes were for a long time exceedingly unpopular, even though in many cases the Trusts has done nothing to deserve this. It was the regular practice (6) to farm out the tolls to contractors who depended for their profit of collecting from the road-users more than they themselves had undertaken to pay to the Trusts. These contractors in turn commonly entered into special bargains with the stagecoach or wagon (7) proprietors, who paid a fixed annual sum in return for a free passage for their vehicles. This system opened the way to the regular evasion of the limits upon roads, and the gate-keepers could often
be bribed by road-users into (8) connivance at breaches of the law

Parliament passed frequent laws in a (9) vain attempt to improve conditions of transport.
One such law, that was, however, frequently (10) evaded, was the Broad Wheels Act of 1753, which laid down 9 inches as the minimum breadth for the wheels of vehicles, except light carts and traps. There was much more legislation, too, in the following decades about the weight of vehicles, the distance apart of their wheels, and similar matters.

Questions 1 - 10 : Vocabulary

1. prominent

a. stretching out
b. famous
c. appealing
d. most easily seen

2. perfunctorily

a. with the least possible effort
b. only at long intervals
c. under compulsion
d. without adequate supervision

3. sporadic

a. done without hope for payment
b. the work of mere amateurs
c. without much effects
d. occurring only here and there

4. revenues

a. benefit
b. incomes
c. profits.
d. investments

5. fraudulently

a. periodically
b. forcibly
c. deceitfully
d. faultily

6. to farm out

a. to lease
b. to cultivate
c. to work out
d. to sell out

7. proprietors

a. conductors
b. drivers
c. controllers.
d. owners

8. connivance

a. bribery and corruption
b. shutting one's eyes to abuses
c. committing crimes
d. taking a leading part in a crime

9. vain

a. inflated
b. impractical
c. ineffective
d. inappropriate

10. evaded

a. involved
b. violated
c. practised
d. avoided

Questions 1 - 5 : Reference

1. What does the word 'its' in line 3 refer to?
The word 'its' refers to .................................................. in line ................................... .

2. What does the word 'whose' in line 4 refer to?
The word 'whose' refers to ............................................... in line ....................................... .

3. What does the word 'this' system in line 15 refer to?
The word 'this' refers to .................................................... in line ....................................... .

4. What does the word 'this' in line 19 refer to?
The word 'this' refers to ................................................... in line ...................................... .

5. What does the word 'their' in line 30 refer to?
The word 'their' refers to ................................................ in line ....................................... .

Questions 1- 5 : Comprehension

1. Men were chosen as Surveyors of Highways on the grounds that they

a. were professionally skilled in road-making.
b. were wealthy enough to pay for the work.
c. were persons of importance in the parish.
d. had been employed by the monasteries in road-making.

2. The system of supplying substitutes for road labour

a. led to the introduction of turnpikes.
b. favoured the wealthy.
c. rendered the task of the surveyors easier.
d. improved the labour on the roads.

3. The most reasonable explanation why turnpikes were rarely found in by-roads would be that

a. there was insufficient traffic to pay for road repairs.
b. the turnpikes were unpopular.
c. all the Trusts were fraudulent.
d. there was no time to set them up.

4. Toll-farming is a system in which

a. agriculture is carried out by toll-farmers.
b. roads are maintained by parishes.
c. farmlands are improved by compulsory labour.
d. a sum is paid for the right to collect tolls.

5. What was the main purpose of the Broad Wheels Act?

a. To prevent the carts racing.
b. To prevent the rutting of the road-surfaces.
c. To make the carts move more quickly.
d. To make the wheels last longer on the rough surfaces.

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