Passage 1:

The life and work of Marie Curie

Marie Curie is probably the most famous woman scientist who has ever lived. BornMaria Sklodowska in Poland in 1867, she is famous for her work on radioactivity, andwas twice a winner of the Nobel Prize. With her husband, Pierre Curie, and HenriBecquerel, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics, and was then sole winnerof the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.From childhood, Marie was remarkable for her prodigious memory, and at the age of 16won a gold medal on completion of her secondary education. Because her father lost hissavings through bad investment, she then had to take work as a teacher. From herearnings she was able to finance her sister Bronia’s medical studies in Paris, on theunderstanding that Bronia would, in turn, later help her to get an education.In 1891 this promise was fulfilled and Marie went to Paris and began to study at theSorbonne (the University of Paris). She often worked far into the night and lived on littlemore than bread and butter and tea. She came first in the examination in the physicalsciences in 1893, and in 1894 was placed second in the examination in mathematicalsciences. It was not until the spring of that year that she was introduced to Pierre Curie.

Questions 1-3:

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1.

In boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet, select:

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

Passage 2:

No treatment on the market today has been proved to slow human aging. But oneintervention, consumption of a low-calorie yet nutritionally balanced diet, worksincredibly well in a broad range of animals, increasing longevity and prolonging goodhealth. Those findings suggest that caloric restriction could delay aging and increaselongevity in humans, too. But what if someone could create a pill that mimicked thephysiological effects of eating less without actually forcing people to eat less, a 'caloricrestriction mimetic'?The best-studied candidate for a caloric-restriction mimetic, 2DG (2-deoxy-D-glucose),works by interfering with the way cells process glucose. It has proved toxic at some dosesin animals and so cannot be used in humans. But it has demonstrated that chemicalscan replicate the effects of caloric restriction; the trick is finding the right one.Cells use the glucose from food to generate ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the moleculethat powers many activities in the body. By limiting food intake, caloric restrictionminimizes the amount of glucose entering cells and decreases ATP generation. When2DG is administered to animals that eat normally, glucose reaches cells in abundancebut the drug prevents most of it from being processed and thus reduces ATP synthesis.Researchers have proposed several explanations for why interruption of glucoseprocessing and ATP production might retard aging. One possibility relates to the ATPmaking machinery’s emission of free radicals, which are thought to contribute to agingand to such age-related diseases as cancer by damaging cells. Reduced operation of themachinery should limit their production and thereby constrain the damage. Anotherhypothesis suggests that decreased processing of glucose could indicate to cells that foodis scarce (even if it isn’t) and induce them to shift into an anti-aging mode thatemphasizes preservation of the organism over such ‘luxuries’ as growth andreproduction.

. calorie: a measure of the energy value of food

Questions 1-3:

Complete the flow-chart below.

choose “NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS” from the passage for each answer

Write your answers in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.

listen to this audio file and then answer questions 1-5

Questions 1-5:

note: Write “NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND A NUMBER” for each answer.