General Training Reading

READING

SECTION I

Questions 1-14

Read the text below and answer Questions 1-7.

PASSPORT APPLICATION

You will need to fill in an application for a passport in the following circumstances: if you are applying for a passport for the first time, if you wish to replace your current passport, if your passport has expired, or if it has been lost or stolen. Your application form must be completed in your own handwriting.

As proof of your citizenship and identity, you must enclose either your passport or your birth certificate. All documents must be originals; these will be returned with your passport.

The standard time to process an application is up to 10 working days. The processing begins from when we have received the completed application form. Applicants should expect delays if the Passport Office receives a form with missing information. Extra time should be allowed for delivery to and from the Passport Office.

Please provide two identical passport photos of yourself. Both photos must be the same in all respects and must be less than 12 months old.

Ask someone who can identify you to fill in the 'Proof of Identity' information and identify one of your photos. This person will be called your witness and needs to meet the following requirements: a witness must be aged 16 years or over, be contactable by phone during normal office hours and be the holder of a valid passport. A witness should fill in the 'Proof of Identity' page in their own handwriting. A witness must also write the full name of the person applying for the passport on the back of one of the photos, sign their own name and date the back of the same photo. Photos with this identifying information written in the applicant's own handwriting will not be accepted.

 

Auckland Internation Airport Services

A. The second floor of the international terminal offers a view of the airfield and all incoming and outgoing flights. There is a café situated here as well as a restaurant, which is available for all airport visitors to use.

B. We are open for all international flights and provide a comprehensive service for visitors to the city. Brochures on a range of attractions are available, and we also offer a booking service for accommodation and transport. Shuttle buses into the city centre are provided at a competitive price.

C. Passengers who require urgent medical attention should dial 9877 on any public telephone in the terminal. The airport pharmacy is located on the ground floor near the departure lounge, and stocks a comprehensive range of products.

D. Departing passengers can completely seal their luggage or packages in recyclable polythene to protect them from damage. Luggage storage, charged at $10 per hour, is available on the first floor. Transit passengers have free access to storage facilities.

E. Every international passenger, with the exception of children under 12 years of age and transit passengers in Auckland for less than 24 hours, is required to make a payment of $25 when leaving the country. This can be arranged at the National Bank on the ground floor.

F. As Auckland International Airport has adopted the 'quiet airport' concept, there are usually no announcements made over the public address system. Details of all arrivals and departures are displayed on the monitors located in the terminal halls and lounge areas.

G. The airport caters for the needs of business travellers and has several rooms available for seminars or business gatherings. These are located adjacent to the airport medical centre on the first floor. For information and bookings please contact the Airport Business Manager on extension 5294.

 

SECTION 2

Questions 15-27

Read the text below and answer Questions 15-20.

Shooting Star is an organisation which offers special training for school leavers.

Planning a Gap Year

The best reason to take a gap year between school and work or higher education is to improve your CV with experience overseas. This is why some school leavers in Britain now consider a year out to be essential. Many want to travel, with Sydney the favourite destination. Shooting Star is an organisation that helps school leavers by offering training followed by appropriate employment.

We at Shooting Star offer much more than a trip abroad. At Shooting Star you acquire skills that lead to interesting jobs both for your gap year and future holidays. Magazines are full of 'Wanted' adverts for washing up in a restaurant. Well, we don't do that it's not our idea of excitement. We offer school leavers the chance for outdoor adventure, to teach things like sailing and snowboarding. No choice, really! In your year out you train, travel and work; you can combine work with pleasure and reap the rewards. You could become an experienced yacht skipper or instructor and many people go on to spend their future holidays being paid to enjoy their favourite sport.

Australians and New Zealanders travel to Europe and North America in large numbers to gain overseas experience. Those who qualify with Shooting Star are very soon using their skills in jobs they could only dream about before, working outdoors and seeing more world. Wherever you come from, a gap year with Shooting Star means professional training and international adventure.

Top tips for a successful gap year:

• Design your gap year in outline before applying for a permanent job or a college place. Human Resources officers or Admissions tutors will be impressed by a thought-out plan.

• What's more important to you - travel or work experience? You can be flexible with travel plans but you must research job opportunities in advance. Go to our website and click on Recruitment for ideas.

• Who do you know who has taken a gap year before? Shooting Star can put you in touch with someone who has just completed one.

• Sort out the admin in plenty of time - air tickets, visas, insurance and medical matters such as vaccinations for some destinations. These are your responsibility.

• Who is in charge of your affairs while you are away? There will be forms to fill and letters to answer.

• Allow plenty of time to settle back home on your return- and don't be surprised if it takes some time to readjust to everyday life!

 

Questions 21-27

Read the text below and answer Questions 21-27.

Succeeding at Interviews

A. Getting invited to an interview means you have passed the first hurdle - your application must have made a good impression. Now you need to prepare yourself for the interview to make sure you make the most of this opportunity. There are a number of things you can do.

B. Firstly you can do some research. Find out about the employer and the job, ask for an information pack or speak to people you know who work for the company. Try to plan for the interview by asking who will be interviewing you and whether there will be a test to take.

C. Prepare for questions you might be asked. Some common ones are the reason why you want the job, whether you have done this kind of work before, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and which leisure pursuits you enjoy.

D. Another important point is never to run the risk of arriving late. For example, consider making a 'dummy run' in advance to see how long the journey will take. Check out public transport or, if you are going by car, the nearest parking. Aim to arrive about 10 minutes before the interview is due to start.

E. It is also crucial to give plenty of thought to what you are going to wear. This will depend on the job you are going for. There is no need to buy a new outfit, but aim to look neat and tidy. Remember, if you look good it will help you feel good.

F. You need to make a good impression. Interviews can vary from a relatively informal 'one-to-one' chat to a very formal panel situation. Whatever the circumstances, you will give yourself an advantage by being friendly and polite, by making eye contact with the interviewer and by selling yourself by focusing on your strengths.

G. There are also things you should avoid doing at your interview. First of all, don't exaggerate. For example, if you don't have the exact experience the employer is looking for, say so and explain you are willing to learn. Don't simply give 'yes' and 'no' answers, but answer questions as fully as you can. And lastly don’t forget to ask questions as well as answering

H. One final thing to remember: it is important to show good team spirit, that you possess good people skills and that you are friendly and approachable. Finally, remember to be enthusiastic and show that you can be flexible.

 

SECTION 3

Questions 28-40

Read the text and answer Questions 28-40.

Serendipity-accidental discoveries in science

What do photography, dynamite, insulin and artificial sweetener have in common? Serendipity! These diverse discoveries, which have made our everyday living more convenient, were discovered partly by chance. However, Louis Pasteur noted the additional requirement involved in serendipity when he said, "... chance favours only the prepared mind'.

The discovery of modern photography provides an example of serendipity. In 1838, L. J. M. Daguerre was attempting to 'fix' images onto a copper photographic plate. After adding a silver coating to the plate and exposing it to iodine vapour, he found that the photographic image was improved but still very weak. Desperate after an investigation lasting several months, Daguerre placed a lightly exposed photographic plate in the cupboard in which laboratory chemicals such as alcohol and collodion were stored. To his amazement, when he removed the plate several days later, Daguerre found a strong image on its surface.

This image had been created by chance. It was at this point that Louis Pasteur's 'additional requirement' came into play: Daguerre's training told him that one or more of the chemicals in the cupboard was responsible for intensifying the image. After a break of two weeks, Daguerre systematically placed new photographic plates in the cupboard, removing one chemical each day. Unpredictably, good photographic images were created even after all chemicals had been removed. Daguerre then noticed that some mercury had spilled onto the cupboard shelf, and he concluded that the mercury vapour must have improved the photographic result. From this discovery came the universal adoption of the silver-mercury process to develop photographs.

Daguerre's serendipitous research effort was rewarded, a year later, with a medal conferred by the French government. Many great scientists have benefited from serendipity, including Nobel Prize winners. In fact the scientist who established the Nobel Prize was himself blessed with serendipity. In 1861, the Nobel family built a factory in Stockholm to produce nitro glycerine, a colourless and highly explosive oil that had first been prepared by an Italian chemist fifteen years earlier. Nitro glycerine was known to be volatile and unpredictable, often exploding as a result of very small knocks. But the Nobel family believed that this new explosive could solve a major problem facing the Swedish State Railways - the need to dig channels and tunnels through mountains so that the developing railway system could expand.

However, as turnover increased, so did the number of accidental explosions resulting from the use of nitro glycerine. Some people blamed the people who used the explosive more than the substance itself, because nitro glycerine had become popular for inappropriate purposes such as polishing the leather of shoes.

At the age of thirty, Alfred Nobel made the first of his major inventions: an innovative blasting cap, a device designed to control the nitroglycerine explosion. Nobel was also determined to discover a way to make this explosive safer to manufacture, transport, and use. Firstly, he experimented with adding chemicals to nitroglycerine, but because the chemicals required huge amounts of resources and energy to wash out, this process was considered to be impractical. He then tried to use fibrous material such as sawdust, charcoal, or paper to stabilise the explosive, but these combustible materials tended to catch fire when placed near nitroglycerine. As an alternative, he added powdered brick dust to tame the explosive, as he knew that brick dust would not catch fire. However, the brick dust reduced the explosive power of the product, and so was also found to be unsatisfactory.

According to one version of how the eventual solution was found, a metal container of nitroglycerine sprang a leak, and some of the liquid soaked into packaging material that lay around the container. Nobel immediately set to work to examine the connection between the two materials and found that when the packaging material was mixed with nitroglycerine it could be pressed into a compact solid. This solid retained the explosive power of the liquid but was entirely safe and reliable because it would not ignite until set off by a blasting cap.

As a scientist who had worked systematically towards a solution for a number of years, Nobel immediately understood the importance of this discovery. But the discovery had only come about because of his perseverance. Through Nobel's clear vision, systematic research and his quick grasp of the significance of his discovery, he set himself apart from the many scientists who were not 'fortunate' enough to create new products that would make them famous.

Alfred Nobel, a lifelong pacifist, hoped that his explosive would be a powerful deterrent to warfare. Nobel sought to achieve permanent worldwide peace. In setting up the Nobel Foundation and the Nobel Peace Prizes, he hoped to accomplish what he had not been able to do during his lifetime: to encourage research and activities that would bestow the 'greatest benefit to mankind', especially peace and fraternity between nations. His vision was of a peaceful world.