READING COMPREHENSION

Passage 1: The first farmer’s trial with NPM was a complete success! Inspired by this success, 20 farmers tried NPM the next year. SECURE posted two well-trained staff in Punukula to teach and help everyone in the village, and the village women put pressure on their husbands to stop using toxic chemicals. Families that were no longer exposing themselves to pesticides began to feel much better, and the rapid improvement in income, health, and general well-being quickly sold everyone on the value of NPM. By 2000, all the farmers in Punukula were using NPM, not only for cotton but for their other crops as well.

Question: In which year did all the farmers use NPM for their crops in Punukala?

Passage 2: These families were so poor that the long-term benefits of education seemed unattractive when setting against the short-term gain of sending children out to gather firewood or help in the fields. One plate of porridge a day completely altered the calculation. A child fed at school will not howl so plaintively for food at home. Girls, who are more likely than boys to be kept out of school, are given extra snacks to take home.

Question: Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage?

____________ are exclusively offered to girls in the feeding programme.

Passage 3: When the school’s feeding programme was introduced, enrolment at Msekeni doubled. Some of the new pupils had switched from nearby schools that did not give out free porridge, but most were children whose families had previously kept them at home to work. These families were so poor that the long-term benefits of education seemed unattractive when setting against the short-term gain of sending children out to gather firewood or help in the fields.

Question: Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage?

Instead of going to school, many children in poverty are sent to collect____________in the fields.

Passage 4: Floods once raged through the canyon every year. Spring Snow from as far away as Wyoming would melt and swell the Colorado River to a flow that averaged around 1,500 cubic metres (50,000 cubic feet) a second. Every eight years or so, that figure rose to almost 3,000 cubic metres. These floods infused the river with sediment, carved its beaches and built its sandbars.

Question: Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage?

The snow from far Wyoming would melt in the season of ___________and caused a flood flow peak in the Colorado river.

Passage 5: The short-term explanation is that in California, which usually has dry summers, has had nine inches less rain than normal this year. In the long term, climate change across the West is leading to hotter days on average and longer fire seasons. Experts say this is likely to yield more mega fires like the conflagrations that this week forced evacuations of at least 300,000 residents in California’s southland and led President Bush to declare a disaster emergency in seven counties on Tuesday.

Question: Complete the sentences below using ONE WORD ONLY from the passage?

California’s summer is dry, __________ is below the average point.

Passage 6: The demand for coal, which was a relatively cheap energy source, grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution, as it was needed to run not only the factories used to produce manufactured goods, but also steam-powered transportation. In the early 1800s, the English engineer Richard Trevithick built a steam-powered locomotive, and by 1830 goods and passengers were being transported between the industrial centres of Manchester and Liverpool. In addition, steam-powered boats and ships were widely used to carry goods along Britain’s canals as well as across the Atlantic.

Question: Complete the sentences below using ONE WORD ONLY from the passage?

A greater supply of____________ was required to power steam engines.

Passage 7: For athletes, some level of performance stress is almost unavoidable. But there are many different factors that dictate just how people’s minds and bodies respond to stressful events. Typically, stress is the result of an exchange between two factors: demands and resources. An athlete may feel stressed about an event if they feel the demands on them are greater than they can handle. These demands include the high level of physical and mental effort required to succeed, and also the athlete’s concerns about the difficulty of the event, their chance of succeeding, and any potential dangers such as injury. Resources, on the other hand, are a person’s ability to cope with these demands. These include factors such as the competitor’s degree of confidence, how much they believe they can control the situation’s outcome, and whether they’re looking forward to the event or not.

Question: Complete the sentences below using ONE WORD ONLY from the passage?

Performance stress involves many demands on the athlete, for example, coping with the possible risk of ___________.

Passage 8: Our challenge and threat responses essentially influence how our body responds to stressful situations, as both affect the production of adrenaline and cortisol – also known as ‘stress hormones’. During a challenge state, adrenaline increases the amount of blood pumped from the heart and expands the blood vessels, which allows more energy to be delivered to the muscles and brain. This increase of blood and decrease of pressure in the blood vessels has been consistently related to superior sport performance in everything from cricket batting, to golf putting and football penalty taking. But during a threat state, cortisol inhibits the positive effect of adrenaline, resulting in tighter blood vessels, higher blood pressure, slower psychological responses, and a faster heart rate. In short, a threat state makes people more anxious – they make worse decisions and perform more poorly. In tennis players, cortisol has been associated with more unsuccessful serves and greater anxiety.

Question: Complete the sentences below using ONE WORD ONLY from the passage?

Cortisol can cause tennis players to produce fewer good _____________

Passage 9: But there are many ways athletes can ensure they respond positively under pressure. Positive stress responses can be promoted through the language that they and others – such as coaches or parents — use. Psychologists can also help athletes change how they see their physiological responses – such as helping them see a higher heart rate as excitement, rather than nerves.

Question: Complete the sentences below using ONE WORD ONLY from the passage?

Psychologists can help athletes to view their physiological responses as the effect of a positive feeling such as__________.

Passage 10: Developing psychological skills, such as visualisation, can also help decrease physiological responses to threat. Visualisation may involve the athlete recreating a mental picture of a time when they performed well, or picturing themselves doing well in the future. This can help create a feeling of control over the stressful event. Recreating competitive pressure during training can also help athletes learn how to deal with stress.

Question: Complete the sentences below using ONE WORD ONLY from the passage?

_____________is an example of a psychological technique which can reduce an athlete’s stress responses.