Part 1
Read the text and answer questions 1–17.

Part 1

Read the text below and answer Questions 1—8.

Places to visit

A Beautiful Kingsley House was built in the 18th century, and all the rooms are decorated and furnished in the style of the time. They include the dining room, study and dressing room, which contains a display of 18th-century ladies’ clothing. Our volunteer guides in each room bring the house to life with stories of the past.

B The Africa Museum was founded 50 years ago, and to commemorate the event, we have chosen 50 treasures from the permanent collection and put them together to tell the fascinating story of that continent. This exhibition continues until the end of the year. The Folk Art Gallery opens to the public next month, exhibiting traditional paintings and other objects from all over Africa.

C From the outside, 17 Mansfield Street may not look particularly exciting, but come inside, and you’ll find yourself in a historic building that started life as a theatre, before becoming a bank and then a restaurant, which is still in operation. On Sundays and Mondays, when the restaurant is closed, a guide is available to show you round the building and its fascinating architectural features.

D The Industrial Heritage Centre tells the fascinating story of a local family firm. Mr John Carroll started his engineering business in this building exactly 150 years ago. The firm closed in 1969, but the factory has been re-created, with machines like those that Mr Carroll was familiar with. See what working life could be like in the 19th century, a life far removed from the elegance of the wealthy.

E The Fashion Museum has only just opened. It is home to an outstanding collection of more than 30,000 objects worn by men, women and children, dating from the 17th century to the present day. You’ll see how people used to dress! As well as the permanent exhibits, you can currently see Dressing the Stars, which displays original costumes worn by the stars of many popular films.

F Having spent the best part of two years being refurbished, the Mason Museum has recently opened its doors again. It provides a magnificent setting for its art collection and for the beautiful 18th-century furniture for which the Mason is famous. Open Mondays to Fridays 10-4, and weekends 10-6.

Read the passage below and answer Questions 9—17.

Citywide Power Company

WELCOME

We are pleased to welcome you to Citywide.

We aim to make our customers’ lives as simple as possible by offering a range of payment options and special discounts.

If you need to call us for any reason, free phone Customer Service on 1900 1255 12.

PAYMENT OPTIONS

Choose the option that suits your preference and rest assured that we offer everyone a 15% discount if the entire bill is paid before the due date.

Direct Debit

Set up a direct debit and your energy bill will be paid automatically each month (as long as you have sufficient funds in your chosen bank account).You qualify for a further 2% Prompt Pay Discount if you choose this method.

Internet Banking

Add Citywide Power to your bill payment options; receive your bill online; transfer the full amount owing before the due date and get a 2% Prompt Pay Discount. What could be easier?

Automatic Payment

If you want to pay your bills in smaller instilments at regular intervals, say weekly or fortnightly, then set up an automatic payment with your bank. This option is more suitable for customers with regular energy usage, although you can change the amount and the interval at any time.

Telephone Transfer

Fast and easy bill payment at your fingertips. Make Citywide Power one of your telephone transfer options at the bank and you can just pick up the phone and pay straight from your bank account when you receive your energy bill. The 2% Prompt Pay Discount applies if accounts are paid in full on time.

Credit Card

Register your credit card details with us, and we’ll automatically debit your monthly bill from your’ credit card. To set up this form of payment, you’ll need to phone us with your credit card details, account number and ICP number. We accept most credit cards—all the major ones anyway.

Cheque

Yes, we know there are still customers who prefer to pay by cheque. If this is the case, simply write the cheque—being sure to note your account number on the back—and mall it in your pre-paid, reusable envelope in which you received your bill.

In Person 

Got time to pay in person? Then pop into any branch of Citywide with your wifi and the means to pay it.

Part 2
Read the text and answer questions 18–28.

Part 2                          

Read the text below and answer Questions 18—24.

Best job in the world

Island Caretaker

About the job

The role of island Caretaker is a six-month contract based on the exotic Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. It’s a live-in position with flexible working hours. Key responsibilities include exploring the islands to discover what the area has to offer.

You’ll be required to report back on your adventures to headquarters and the rest of the world via weekly blogs, photo diary, video updates and ongoing media interviews. On offer is a unique opportunity to help promote the wondrous Whitsunday Islands.

Other duties many include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Feed the fish-there are ever 1500 species of fish living in the area-don’t worry you won’t need to feed them all.

• Clean the pool—the pool has an automatic filter but if you happen to see a stray leaf floating on the surface it’s a great excuse to dive in and enjoy a few laps.

• Collect the mail—during your explorations why not join the aerial postal service for a day? It’s a great opportunity to get a bird’s eye view of the reef and islands.

About the job package

Living on the Island is a unique benefit in itself but the successful candidate will also be paid a salary package of $150,000 for the six-month contract. You’ll receive return airfares from your nearest capital city, accommodation and transport to the Island, travel insurance for the contract period, computer, internet, digital video and still camera access.

About the location

In between travelling to various islands of the Great Barrier Reef, the Island Caretaker will live in a beautiful, three-bedroom home featuring stunning views, modern facilities and exquisite furnishings. The bright, airy interior features three spacious bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fully-equipped kitchen, state-of-the-art entertainment system, ceiling fans, air-conditioning and laundry facilities.

The Island Caretaker will enjoy outdoor areas including a private plunge pool/spa with exceptional views, sun lounges, large balconies and the traditional, Australian barbeque. A golf buggy is also included with the house, so you can explore the island with ease.

Read the text below and answer Questions 25—28.

If you want to find a job that motivates you, maybe change your career or start out on your own in a small business or as a freelancer, or even make a fresh start after redundancy, think about making a quick planner to help you identify your interests and motivating factors.

To be successful and happy at work, you have to figure out what it is you really love—you need to recognize your passion. To do well at self-employment or freelance work too, you need to know what your own personal strengths are. More than that, you should be aware of your working styles—things like whether you are good around people or not whether you are better at working with figures, design or text Perhaps you like working with machinery or certain materials. The next step is very important investigate the potential for your ideas, in other words, carry out some research and educate yourself about all the possibilities. Don’t rush it Let your ideas take shape slowly and work out your plans for the future. Time i’s crucial for refining and developing what you have to offer. At the end of it all, you’ll be in the most appropriate and fulfilling job for you whether it’s running your own business or enjoying being in a new occupation.

Part 3
Read the text and answer questions 29–40.

Part 3                           

Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.

Laughter is the best medicine

The therapeutic use of laughter to relieve stress, combat disease and strengthen the immune system — no longer raises medical eyebrows. The idea that humour is healthy and that a hearty laugh can make a person feel much better has gained much medical respectability in the last two decades.

Humour therapy has been accepted on the basis of considerable research conducted in the West. The case of Hunter ‘Patch’ Adams (immortalised by actor Robin Williams in the film Patch Adams), who developed laughter therapy over 35 years at the Gesundheit Institute in Virginia, USA, is well-known. The other is the story of Norman Cousins, the late editor of the American paper, The Saturday Review, who was taken ill with a severe connective tissue disease where the body just wastes away. When doctors gave up on him, he cured himself with large doses of vitamin C and comedies starring the Marx Brothers. Cousins found that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anaesthetic effect and gave him at least two hours of pain-free sleep. He recorded his experiences of self-healing through laughter in a best-selling book, Anatomy of an Illness.

This has been an inspiration for many practitioners of laughter therapy, including Dr Madan Kataria, a Mumbai-based general practitioner who has pioneered the concept of laughter clubs in India. As founder of Laughter Club International, Dr Kataria is credited with initiating over 300 laughter clubs throughout India. Each of these conducts regular group laughter sessions on the premise that laughter is healthy for the body and mind.

We still know very little about what happens in the brain when we laugh, but there is a fair amount of evidence to suggest that laughter has wide-ranging effects on us psychologically and physiologically. The most obvious effect is on our mood but laughter is also known to keep away negative emotions like anxiety and depression, which weaken the immune system. It relieves stress, a common cause of heart and blood pressure problems. It improves lung capacity and oxygen levels in the blood and thus alleviates complaints of asthma and bronchitis. It also releases endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers, thus reducing the frequency and intensity of arthritic pain and muscular spasms. It is also known to help with insomnia, migraines, allergies, and ulcers.

French neurologist, Henri Rubenstein, said that even one minute of laughter can give the body up to 45 minutes of therapeutic relaxation. It also reduces heart rate and stimulates appetite and digestion. French doctor, Pierre Vachet, who studied the physiology of laughter, has concluded that laughter expands the blood vessels and sends more blood racing to the extremities. As it sends more oxygen to every cell in the body, it also serves so speed tissue healing and stabilise many body functions. Other experiments have shown how watching funny films lowers our blood pressure and generates more endorphins in the blood, producing a feeling of well-being.

However, new insights say that not everyone benefits equally from this therapy. Researchers say that if people with a strong sense of humour are less affected by stress, it’s not necessarily the laughter that’s helping them cope; it could mean that if they are coping well, they can laugh a lot. In fact, one study showed that viewing funny videos led to a rise in immune chemical levels, but that they rose most in people whose tendency to laugh was the greatest to begin with.

Another study of patients recovering from surgery in a Florida hospital showed that the group that was allowed to choose the humorous movies they saw benefited the most from the laughter therapy and required fewer pain-killers compared with a control group that saw none at all. However, a third group that was force fed comedies without their consent or liking did the worst of all.

But it is clear that the idea that laughter or happiness is the best medicine is rapidly catching on. The British government is, in fact, proposing to hire comedians as jesters for the sick and the elderly. Humour is also accepted in America as a legitimate input for management education. Apparently, some American companies such as IBM even have a humour adviser attached to them.

Researchers in the West have also established a close connection between humour and creativity. Since creativity requires playfulness toying with words, ideas and people — it is interlinked with humour. Experts say that people who are afraid to play, who feel guilty about having fun and sharing a laugh rarely come up with creative new ideas. Even management guru, Edward de Bono, is known to have observed that solutions to problems sometimes come through humour. Many doctors are beginning to agree with him.