Vocabulary

Choose one variant (a, b, c or d) which could be used in place of the word or phrase underlined without changing the meaning of the sentence

1. Networks enable connected computers to rapidly exchange information.

a) avoid c) allow

b) apply d) approve

2. Technology will never replace the fundamental human need to relate to others.

a) contribute c) communicate

b) conclude d) conform

3. Tightening the money supply theoretically helps to counteract inflation.

a) Keeping up c) Breaking down

b) Holding down d) Giving up

4. Government support of crop prices shields farmers from loss of income during periods of depression.

a) protects c) provides

b) prevents d) promotes

5. Consumer needs in industrial society have changed dramatically.

a) steadily c) evidently

b) visually d) sharply

6. The government can also attempt direct intervention to counter a recession.

a) defend c) delay

b) fight d) face

7. Some large firms in science-intensive industries maintain R&D laboratories employing thousands of people.

a) possess c) prevent

b) promote d) process

8. Approximately the same number of students pursue bachelor’s degrees in science in both countries.

a) present c) seek

b) research d) prepare

9. Apart from bringing benefits, science has also posed serious threats to humanity.

a) prepared c) proposed

b) provided d) presented

10. The securities markets are now regulated in order to prevent financial collapse.

a) according to c) compared to

b) so as to d) with a view to

Reading Comprehension

Read the passage and choose the best answer (a, b, c or d) to each question

Text 1

Pauline Portas started her own business because she was fed up with corporate life. She had climbed the ladder at a major insurance company, becoming an area manager.

Despite successive promotions she felt her views were not taken seriously.

‘It's still a man's world out there, you have to battle twice as hard,’ she says. ‘I'd go to meetings and be one woman out of 30 men – you cope with whatever bad language and jokes happen to be around at the time.’

Ms Portas, 48, is one of a growing number of women setting up businesses, partly as an escape from the frustrations of being an employee. A survey carried out recently suggests that many companies are misusing and then losing female talent. A random sample of 350 business start-ups in London found that 67 per cent had been established by women. Of these, 71 per cent said negative experiences in previous jobs had driven them into entrepreneurship.

Slightly more than a third of female respondents said they had been regularly overlooked for promotion and more than one in five said they had often been asked to work longer hours than male colleagues. Nearly two-thirds said that at some time in their career they had faced sexual harassment or suggestive remarks.'

‘Women are by and large much more flexible than men,’ says Sue Birley, a professor at Imperial College Management School. ‘They may well find themselves unhappy with hierarchies and impatient with bureaucracy.’

The most popular types of female start-ups found in the London survey are in: financial services and business advice; media, public relations, journalism and marketing; and hairdressing, beauty products and fashion, the survey found. Only 5 per cent of the women-led businesses failed in their first 12 months, compared with 15 per cent of those started by men.

But Bernard Hallewell, managing director of the National Business Angels Network, says the survey confirms that women tend to go into lower-risk, lower-growth sectors such as public relations and business services. Riskier ideas and ‘bigger vision plans’ for new products or technology tend to come from men, he says.