PASSAGE 1: The happiest country in the world
Children growing up in Costa Rica are surrounded by some of the most beautiful and diverse
landscapes in the world. Preserving tropical rainforests isn’t Costa Rica’s only success, because
the government also makes sure everyone has access to health-care and education. So when
the New Economics Foundation released its second Happy Planet Index, Costa Rica came out
number one. The index is a ranking of countries based on their impact on the environment and
the health and happiness of their citizens.
According to Mariano Rojas, a Costa Rican economics professor, Costa Rica is a mid-income
country where citizens have plenty of time for themselves and for their relationships with others.
‘A mid-income level allows most citizens to satisfy their basic needs. The government makes
sure that all Costa Ricans have access to education, health and nutrition services.’ Costa
Ricans, he believes, are not interested in status or spending money to show how successful
they are.
Created in 2008, the Happy Planet Index examines happiness on a national level and ranks 143
countries according to three measurements: their citizens’ happiness, how long they live (which
reflects their health), and how much of the planet’s resources each country consumes.
According to researcher Saamah Abdallah, the Index also measures the outcomes that are
most important, and those are happy, healthy lives for everyone.


PASSAGE 2: Ochre find reveals ancient knowledge of chemistry
The oldest ochre-processing toolkits and workshop ever found have been unearthed, indicating
that as far back as 100,000 years ago, humans had an understanding of chemistry
South Africa’s Blombos Cave lies within a limestone cliff on the southern Cape coast, 300 km
east of Cape Town. It’s known for its 75,000-year-old rich deposit of artefacts such as beads,
bone tools and ochre engravings. Some engravings date as far back as 100,000 years.
Archaeologist Christopher S. Henshilwood from the University of Witwatersrand in
Johannesburg and University of Bergen, Norway has been excavating at the site since 1992,
and has reported the discovery of a mixture, rich in ochre, stored in two abalone shells. It dates
back to the Middle Stone Age – 100,000 years ago. Ochre is a term used to describe a piece of
earth or rock containing red or yellow oxides or hydroxides of iron. It can be used to make

pigments, or paints, ranging from golden-yellow and light yellow-brown to rich red. Its use spans
the history of humans-from those living more than 200,000 years ago, to modern indigenous
communities.
Made from an array of materials, this mixture, which could have functioned as wall, object and
skin decoration or skin protection (action in a similar way to modern-day sunscreen), indicates
the early developments that occurred in the people who originally used the site.
“[Judging from] the complexity of the material that has been collected from different parts of the
landscape and brought to the site, they (the people) must have had an elementary knowledge of
chemistry to be able to combine these materials to produce this form. It’s not a straightforward
process,” said Henshilwood.
Blombos Cave Discovery
Background
- location: South Africa.
- the year digging began: ​1_
​ ____________________
- previous ancients objects found in this area:
2​ _____________________;
3​ _____________________;
4​ _____________________;
Recent findings
- a mixture containing a large amount of ​5​ _____________________ (used to provide colour).
- it existed ​6​_____________________ ago - in the Middle Stone Age.
- it had various uses, such as making walls, objects, decorating and protecting
7​_________________ from being damaged by the sun.
Conclusion
- prehistoric humans knew basic understanding of ​8​ _____________________.


PASSAGE 3: Rubik’s Cube - How the puzzle achieved success
Erno Rubik first studied sculpture and then later architecture in Budapest, where he went on to

become a teacher of interior design. It was while he was working as a teacher that he began the
preliminary work on an invention that he called the ‘Magic Cube'.
Rubik was inspired by geometric puzzles such as the Chinese tangram, a puzzle consisting of
various triangles, a square and a parallelogram which can be combined to create different
shapes and figures. However, unlike the tangram, which is two- dimensional, Rubik was more
interested in investigating how three-dimensional forms, such as the cube, could be moved and
combined to produce other forms.
His design consisted of a cube made up of layers of individual smaller cubes, and each smaller
cube could be turned in any direction except diagonally. To ensure that the cubes could move
independently, without falling apart, Rubik first attempted to join them together using elastic
bands. However, this proved to be impossible, so Rubik then solved the problem by assembling
them using a rounded interior. This permitted them to move smoothly and easily. He
experimented with different ways of marking the smaller cubes, but ended up with the simple
solution of giving a different colour to each side. The object was to twist the layers of small
cubes so that each side of the large cube was an identical colour.
Rubik took out a patent for the Cube in 1977 and started manufacturing it in the same year. The
Cube came to the attention of a Hungarian businessman, Tibor Laczi, who then demonstrated it
at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. When British toy expert Tom Kremer saw it, he thought it was
amazing and he persuaded a manufacturer, Ideal Toys, to produce 1 million of them in 1979.
Ideal Toys renamed the Cube after the toy’s inventor, and in 1980, Rubik’s Cube was shown at
toy fairs all over the world. It won that year’s prize in Germany for Best Puzzle. Rubik’s Cube is
believed to be the world’s best-selling puzzle; since its invention, more than 300 million Cubes
have been sold worldwide.
Rubik’s Cube
Originally named the ​1_____________________​, Rubik’s Cube consists of a number of
smaller cubes organised in ​2_____________________​.
The smaller cubes can be twisted in almost any way, though not ​3_____________________​.
The Cube’s ​4_____________________​ is shaped in a way that allows the smaller cubes to
move smoothly. Each side of the smaller cubes has a different colour, and the aim of the
puzzle is to organise the cubes so that the colours on the sides of the large cube are

5_____________________​.
The manufacturers of the puzzle changed the name of the Cube to the name of its
6_____________________​ it has now sold more than any other ​7_____________________
in the world.


P​ASSAGE 4: Gold Bugs
Medieval alchemists found, in the end, that they could not create gold. Modern geochemists
have a similar problem. They find it hard to understand how natural gold deposits from. There is
much handwaving about gold-rich fluids from deep in the earth, and chemical precipitation, but
the physics does not add up. The answer may be that what is happening is not geochemical at
all, but biochemical. And a casual experiment conducted by a bacteriologist may hold the key.
Derek Lovley, of the University of Massachusetts, has been studying “metal-eating” bacteria for
two decades. These bacteria make their living by converting the dissolved ions of metallic
elements from one electrical state to another. This reduction releases energy, which the
bacteria extract for their own purposes.
Unsurprisingly, such bacteria tend to prefer common metals such as iron and manganese for
lunch, though some species are able to subsist on such exotica as uranium. Dr Lovley decided
to put some of his bacteria into a solution of gold chloride. He was fully prepared for nothing to
happen, as gold compounds are generally toxic to bacteria. Instead, the test tube containing the
solution turned a beautiful shade of purple, the colour of metallic gold when it is dispersed very
finely in water.
Complete the summary below with words taken from the reading passage. Choose ​ONE OR
TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER ​for each answer.
CREATING GOLD
Even today, scientists are unable to work out how gold is made. Recently, however, they have
considered that the process may be (1)
​. An experiment was carried out
using bacteria that create their own (2)
​using metal. The types of metal

these organisms usually feed on are either (3)
​or
​. However, when
the bacteria were added to a test tube of (4) ​solution, it changed (5)
​, indicating
the presence of gold compounds.