READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.

Magnetic Therapy

Magnetic therapy, which is a $5-billion market worldwide, is a form of alternative medicine

which claims that magnetic fields have healing powers. Magnetic devices that are claimed
to be therapeutic include magnetic bracelets, insoles, wrist and knee bands, back and neck
braces, and even pillows and mattresses. Their annual sales are estimated at $300 million
in the United States and more than a billion dollars globally. They have been advertised to
cure a vast array of ills, particularly pain.

The therapy works on the principle of balancing electrical energy in the body by pulsating
magnetic waves through different parts of the body. The electrical currents generated by
magnets increase the blood flow and oxygen which helps to heal many of the ailments. The
natural effects of the Earth’s magnetic field are considered to play an essential role in the
health of humans and animals. It is generally accepted that our body draws some benefit
from the Earth’s magnetic field. To restore the balance within our body allows us to
function at our optimum level. For example, when the first astronauts returned to earth
sick, NASA concluded that their illness resulted from the lack of a planetary magnetic field
in outer space. To resolve the problem, NASA placed magnets in the astronauts’ space suits
and space travel vehicles, and astronauts have returned to Earth healthy ever since.

Historically it is reported that magnets have been around for an extremely long time. The
therapeutic power of magnets was known to physicians in ancient Greece, Egypt and China
over 4000 years ago, who used naturally magnetic rock – lodestone – to treat a variety of
physical and psychological ailments. Cleopatra the beautiful Egyptian queen was probably
the first celebrity to use magnets. It is documented that in order to prevent from aging, she
slept on a Lodestone to keep her skin youthful. Ancient Romans also used magnet therapy
to treat eye disease.

The popularity of magnet therapy in the United States began to rise during the 1800s and
soared in the post – Civil War era. Sears-Roebuck advertised magnetic jewelry in its catalog
for the healing of virtually any ailment. An Austrian psychoanalyst by the name of Wilhelm
Reich immigrated to the United States in 1939 and researched the effects of
electromagnetism on humans. Today, Germany, Japan, Israel, Russia and at least 45 other
countries consider magnetic therapy to be an official medical procedure for the treatment
of numerous ailments, including various inflammatory and neurological problems.

For those who practice magnetic therapy, strongly believe that certain ailments can be
treated if the patient is exposed to magnetic fields while at the same time there is a strong
resentment from the medical establishment and critics claim that most magnets don’t have
the strength to affect the various organs and tissues within the body and it is a product of
Pseudoscience and is not based on proper research and analysis. There are few reported
complications of magnetic therapy and the World Health Organization says a low level of
magnetic energy is not harmful. Documented side effects are not life-threatening and
include pain, nausea and dizziness that disappeared when the magnets were removed. If
considering magnet therapy, as with any medical treatment, it is always advisable to
consult one’s regular physician first. Magnet therapy is gaining popularity; however,
scientific evidence to support the success of this therapy is lacking. More scientifically
sound studies are needed in order to fully understand the effects that magnets can have on
the body and the possible benefits or dangers that could result from their use.

Researchers at Baylor University Medical Center recently conducted a double-blind study

on the use of concentric-circle magnets to relieve chronic pain in 50 post-polio patients. A
static magnetic device or a placebo device was applied to the patient’s skin for 45 minutes.
The patients were asked to rate how much pain they experienced when a “trigger point
was touched.” The researchers reported that the 29 patients exposed to the magnetic
device achieved lower pain scores than did the 21 who were exposed to the placebo device.
However, this study had significant flaws in their design. Although the groups were said to
be selected randomly, the ratio of women to men in the experimental group was twice that
of the control group; the age of the placebo group was four years higher than that of the
control group; there were just one brief exposure and no systematic follow-up of patients.

Magnet therapy is gaining popularity; however, scientific evidence to support the success
of this therapy is lacking. More scientifically sound studies are needed in order to fully
understand the effects that magnets can have on the body and the possible benefits or
dangers that could result from their use.

Questions 1-6

Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-G from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

List of headings

i Earth itself as the biggest magnet (bản thân trái đất là nam châm lớn nhất)

ii The commercial magnetic products (những sản phẩm từ tính mang tính thương
mại- các bạn chú ý đoạn nào liệt kê các sản phẩm, và nó có giá trị về kinh tế, mang tới lợi
nhuận hay đề cập tới giá trị tiền bạc)

iii Utilize the power from the natural magnetic field (sử dụng năng lượng từ trường tự
nhiên)

iv Early application of the magnet (ứng dụng đầu tiên của nam châm – vì là ứng dụng
đầu nên các bạn chú ý khổ nào chứa thông tin về quá khứ, về ancient people)
v Brief introduction of how the magnetic therapy works (giới thiệu ngắn gọn về
nguyên lý hoạt động của phương pháp trị liệu bằng nam châm)

vi pain-reducing effect (hiệu quả giảm đau) .

vii Arguments for and against the therapy (những tranh cãi và ủng hộ lại phương thứ
trị liệu bằng nam châm)

viii An experiment on post-polio patients (1 thí nghiệm trên những bệnh nhân bị liệt)

ix Conditions of magnet use today (những điều kiện/ hoặc trường hợp sử dụng nam
châm của thời nay)

1 Paragraph A

2 Paragraph B

3 Paragraph C

4 Paragraph D

5 Paragraph E

6 Paragraph F

Questions 7-8

Choose TWO letters, A-E.

Write the correct letters in boxes 7-8 on your answer sheet.

Which TWO of the lodestone benefits in ancient times are mentioned by the writer in the
text?

A make a facial mask

B diminish the energy

C improve eyesight

D keep a younger appearance

E remove dizziness

Questions 9-10

Choose TWO letters, A-E.

Write the correct letters in boxes 9-10 on your answer sheet.

Which TWO weakness of the Baylor research does the writer present?

A The number of subjects involved was not enough.

B There was so further evidence to support.

C The patients were at the same age.

D The device used in the experiment did not work properly.

E The gender ratio was not in proportion

Questions 11-13

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.

Write the correct letters, A-F, in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

11 The first NASA astronauts’ sickness

12 According to the WHO, under the physician’s instruction, a small amount of magnetic
energy

13 The author holds that in order to fully understand the magnetic effects, we

A has no negative side effect.

B resulted from physical ailment.

C should have more sophisticated studies

D is exposed to the placebo device.

E must select the subjects randomly.

F came from the absence of a magnetic field.

The Impact of the Potato

Jeff Chapman relates the story of history the most important vegetable
A The potato was first cultivated in South America between three and seven thousand
years ago, though scientists believe they may have grown wild in the region as long as
13,000 years ago. The genetic patterns of potato distribution indicate that the potato
probably originated in the mountainous west-central region of the continent.
B Early Spanish chroniclers who misused the Indian word batata (sweet potato) as the
name for the potato noted the importance of the tuber to the Incan Empire. The Incas had
learned to preserve the potato for storage by dehydrating and mashing potatoes into a
substance called Chuchu could be stored in a room for up to 10 years, providing excellent
insurance against possible crop failures. As well as using the food as a staple crop, the
Incas thought potatoes made childbirth easier and used it to treat injuries.
C The Spanish conquistadors first encountered the potato when they arrived in Peru in
1532 in search of gold, and noted Inca miners eating chuchu. At the time the Spaniards
failed to realize that the potato represented a far more important treasure than either
silver or gold, but they did gradually begin to use potatoes as basic rations aboard their
ships. After the arrival of the potato in Spain in 1570，a few Spanish farmers began to
cultivate them on a small scale, mostly as food for livestock.
D Throughout Europe, potatoes were regarded with suspicion, distaste and fear. Generally
considered to be unfit for human consumption, they were used only as animal fodder and
sustenance for the starving. In northern Europe, potatoes were primarily grown in
botanical gardens as an exotic novelty. Even peasants refused to eat from a plant that
produced ugly, misshapen tubers and that had come from a heathen civilization. Some felt
that the potato plant’s resemblance to plants in the nightshade family hinted that it was the
creation of witches or devils.
E In meat-loving England, farmers and urban workers regarded potatoes with extreme
distaste. In 1662, the Royal Society recommended the cultivation of the tuber to the English
government and the nation, but this recommendation had little impact. Potatoes did not
become a staple until, during the food shortages associated with the Revolutionary Wars,
the English government began to officially encourage potato cultivation. In 1795, the Board
of Agriculture issued a pamphlet entitled “Hints Respecting the Culture and Use of
Potatoes”； this was followed shortly by pro-potato editorials and potato recipes in The
Times. Gradually, the lower classes began to follow the lead of the upper classes.
F A similar pattern emerged across the English Channel in the Netherlands, Belgium and
France. While the potato slowly gained ground in eastern France (where it was often the
only crop remaining after marauding soldiers plundered wheat fields and vineyards), it did
not achieve widespread acceptance until the late 1700s. The peasants remained suspicious,
in spite of a 1771 paper from the Facult de Paris testifying that the potato was not harmful
but beneficial. The people began to overcome their distaste when the plant received the
royal seal of approval: Louis XVI began to sport a potato flower in his buttonhole, and
Marie-Antoinette wore the purple potato blossom in her hair.
G Frederick the Great of Prussia saw the potato’s potential to help feed his nation and
lower the price of bread, but faced the challenge of overcoming the people’s prejudice
against the plant. When he issued a 1774 order for his subjects to grow potatoes as
protection against famine, the town of Kolberg replied: “The things have neither smell nor
taste, not even the dogs will eat them, so what use are they to us?” Trying a less direct
approach to encourage his subjects to begin planting potatoes, Frederick used a bit of
reverse psychology: he planted a royal field of potato plants and stationed a heavy guard to
protect this field from thieves. Nearby peasants naturally assumed that anything worth
guarding was worth stealing, and so snuck into the field and snatched the plants for their
home gardens. Of course, this was entirely in line with Frederick’s wishes.
H Historians debate whether the potato was primarily a cause or an effect of the huge
population boom in industrial-era England and Wales. Prior to 1800，the English diet had
consisted primarily of meat, supplemented by bread, butter and cheese. Few vegetables
were consumed, most vegetables being regarded as nutritionally worthless and potentially
harmful. This view began to change gradually in the late 1700s. The Industrial Revolution
was drawing an ever increasing percentage of the populace into crowded cities, where only
the richest could afford homes with ovens or coal storage rooms, and people were working
12-16 hour days which left them with little time or energy to prepare food. High yielding,
easily prepared potato crops were the obvious solution to England’s food problems.
I Whereas most of their neighbors regarded the potato with suspicion and had to be
persuaded to use it by the upper classes, the Irish peasantry embraced the tuber more
passionately than anyone since the Incas. The potato was well suited to the Irish the soil
and climate, and its high yield suited the most important concern of most Irish farmers: to
feed their families.
J The most dramatic example of the potato’s potential to alter population patterns occurred
in Ireland, where the potato had become a staple by 1800. The Irish population doubled to
eight million between 1780 and 1841，this without any significant expansion of industry or
reform of agricultural techniques beyond the widespread cultivation of the potato. Though
Irish landholding practices were primitive in comparison with those of England, the
potato’s high yields allowed even the poorest farmers to produce more healthy food than
they needed with scarcely any investment or hard labor. Even children could easily plant,
harvest and cook potatoes, which of course required no threshing, curing or grinding. The
abundance provided by potatoes greatly decreased infant mortality and encouraged early
marriage.
Questions 1-5
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1 The early Spanish called potato as the Incan name ‘Chuchu’
2 The purposes of Spanish coming to Peru were to find out potatoes
3 The Spanish believed that the potato has the same nutrients as other vegetables
4 Peasants at that time did not like to eat potatoes because they were ugly
5 The popularity of potatoes in the UK was due to food shortages during the war
Questions 6-13
Complete the sentences below with NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage for each
answer.
Write your answers in boxes 6-13 on your answer sheet.
6. In France, people started to overcome their disgusting about potatoes because the King
put a potato …………………………. in his button hole.
7. Frederick realized the potential of potato but he had to handle the ………………………….
against potatoes from ordinary people.
8. The King of Prussia adopted some …………………………. psychology to make people accept
potatoes.
9. Before 1800，the English people preferred eating …………………………. with bread, butter
and cheese.
10. The obvious way to deal with England food problems were high yielding
potato ………………………….
11. The Irish …………………………. and climate suited potatoes well.
12. Between 1780 and 1841, based on the …………………………. of the potatoes, the Irish
population doubled to eight million.
13. The potato’s high yields help the poorest farmers to produce more healthy food almost
without ………………………….