Lost for words Many minority languages are on the danger list In the Native American Navajo nation which sprawls across four states in the American south-west, the native language is dying. Most of its speakers are middle-age or elderly. Although many students take classes in Navajo, the schools are run in English. Street sign, supermarket … more →

In search of the holy Grail It has been called the Holy Grail of modern biology. Costing more than £2 billion, it is the most ambitious scientific project since the Apollo programme that landed a man on the moon. And it will take longer to accomplish than the lunar missions, for it will not be … more →

Questions 1-4 The reading passage has seven paragraphs A-G. From the list of headings below choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B-E. Write the appropriate numbers (i-viii) NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all. Example               Answer Paragraph  A            vii List of … more →

100 years of the western workplace A  Conditions in the working environment of Western countries changed significantly over the 20th century. Though not without some associated problems, these changes may be viewed generally as positive: child labour all but ceased, wages rose, the number of working hours in a week decreased, pension policies became standard, … more →

Lessons from the Titanic A From the comfort of our modern lives we tend to look back at the turn of the twentieth century as a dangerous time for sea travelers. With limited communication facilities, and shipping technology still in its infancy in the early nineteen hundreds, we consider ocean travel to have been a … more →

Questions 27-30 The passage has six sections, A-F. Choose the correct heading for sections B, C, E and F from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-xi, in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet. List of Headings i    MIRTP as a future model ii    Identifying the main transport problems iii    Preference for … more →

Gondwanaland A. Meet Mesosaurus, a small reptile which lived in fresh-water lakes and streams millions of years ago during the lower Permain age. Mesosaurus has had a big impact on how we view our planet, because he helped to prove the existence of the super-continent called Gondwanaland. B. Every schoolchild has probably looked at a … more →

The family of Germanicus Germanicus is not a name that many people are familiar with today, but the man and his family are central figures in the story of one of the most colorful imperial dynasties the world has ever known – the Julio-Claudians. The Julio-Claudians get their name from two families of the old … more →

Hard Disk Drive Technology A few years ago, a query about the health of a person’s hard disk drive would have been met with a blank stare. Nowadays, almost everyone is aware of this remarkable electronic storage medium that is part of every modern computer, even though most users remain ignorant of the complexity of … more →