Bộ câu hỏi: Bài tập bổ trợ tuần 7 - đọc hiểu (có đáp án)

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 1 to 5.

The popular view that music enhances creativity has been challenged by researchers who say it has the opposite effect. Psychologists from the University of Central Lancashire, University of Gävle in Sweden and Lancaster University investigated the impact of background music on performance by presenting people with verbal insight problems that are believed to tap creativity.

They found that background music "significantly impaired" people ability to complete tasks testing verbal creativity - but there was no effect for background library noise. For example, a participant was shown three words (e.g., dress, dial, flower), with the requirement being to find a single associated word (in this case “sun”) that can be combined to make a common word or phrase (i.e., sundress, sundial and sunflower).

The researchers used experiments involving verbal tasks in either a quiet environment or while exposed to: (1) Background music with foreign (unfamiliar) lyrics; (2) Instrumental music without lyrics; or (3) Music with familiar lyrics. Dr. Neil McLatchie of Lancaster University said: "We found strong evidence of impaired performance when playing background music in comparison to quiet background conditions. “Researchers suggest this may be because music disrupts verbal working memory.

The third experiment - exposure to music with familiar lyrics - impaired creativity regardless of whether the music also boosted mood, induced a positive mood, was liked by the participants, or whether participants typically studied in the presence of music.

However, there was no significant difference in performance of the verbal tasks between the quiet and library noise conditions. Researchers say this is because library noise is a "steady state" environment which is not as disruptive. "To conclude, the findings here challenge the popular view that music enhances creativity, and instead demonstrate that music, regardless of the presence of semantic content (no lyrics, familiar lyrics or unfamiliar lyrics), consistently disrupts creative performance in insight problem solving."

(Adapted from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190227081542.htm)

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 6 to 12.

Although the private ownership of cars has steadily increased as it has become more affordable, there is still a demand for public transport. The cost of a new car has fallen in real terms so that now it is cheaper than ever to own one. Nevertheless, a minority of the population will never be in a position to do without public transport for even the shortest journey.

Successive governments, under pressure from middle class car-owning voters, have poured money into the building of new roads and the widening of existing ones. Better facilities for drivers have tended to attract more drivers. The result is overcrowding on an overstretched and expensive road system. Now governments are faced with huge bills and dissatisfied voters who resent paying taxes for a poor service.

When people travel to other towns, the problem might be eased by getting them to park on the outskirts of town. Buses could be provided to take them into the center. These Park and Ride schemes are increasingly popular and early results from large scale studies seem positive. At Southerton, for example, a council-funded scheme led to a 15% drop in city center traffic over five months.

What the council found, though, was that the measure proved somewhat unpopular with shops and retail outlets in the areas outside the center. Many of these relied on passing traffic for some of their trade. As the number of people driving past dropped, so did incomes. It was discovered that visitors found it more difficult to get around without their cars and so they were not stopping on their way into the city center.

Making car driving expensive is another way of making sure that people use public transport more. Road taxes and tolls on roads to pay for repairs tend to mean that people use their cars less. Fining drivers who are in areas where cars have been banned can also tend to encourage them to leave their car behind. There is one point that has to be got right for any solution to succeed. If we expect people to give up the habits of a lifetime, we must give them an alternative they can depend on. Constant delays, unannounced changes to the timetable, and sudden cancellations all discourage people from using public transport. People will only see it as a real option if the buses and trains are on time.

Education about the threat posed to the environment by our driving culture will prove vital. As people realize that the rate of road building cannot be sustained and that driving is likely to become the right of a privileged, wealthy few, so they will start to take seriously the problem of getting from A to B on public transport.

(Adapted from Reading and Writing by Malcom Mann and Steve Taylore-Knowles, Macmillan)