49 |
P a g e
NO
if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN
if the information is not given in the passage
37. People often buy things that are seldom used and throw them away.
38. In a post-throwaway society, we will pay extra money after disposing
the electronic
goods.
39. Some businesses have jumped on the sustainability bandwagon.
40. Company will spend less on repairing in the future.
50 |
P a g e
Reading Test 4
SECTION 1
William Gilbert and Magnetism
A
16th and 17th centuries saw two great pioneers of modem science: Galileo and Gilbert.
The impact of their findings is eminent. Gilbert
was the first modem scientist, also the
accredited father of the science of electricity and magnetism, an Englishman of learning
and a physician at the court of Elizabeth. Prior to him, all that was known of electricity and
magnetism
was what the ancients knew, nothing more than that the : lodestone
possessed magnetic properties and that amber and jet, when rubbed, would attract bits
of paper or other substances of small specific gravity. However, he is less well-known
than he deserves.
B
Gilbert’s birth predated Galileo. Born in an eminent local family in Colchester county in
the UK, on May 24
,
1544
,
he went to grammar school, and then studied medicine at St.
John’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 1573. Later he traveled in the continent and
eventually settled down in London.
C
He was a very successful and eminent doctor. All this culminated in his election to the
president of the Royal Science Society. He was also appointed the personal physician to
the Queen (Elizabeth I)
,
and later knighted by the Queen. He faithfully served her until
her death. However, he didn’t outlive the Queen for long and died on December 10, 1603,
only a few months after his appointment as personal physician to King James.
D
Gilbert was first interested in chemistry but later changed his focus due to the large
portion of mysticism of alchemy involved (such as the transmutation of metal). He
gradually developed his interest in physics after the great minds of the ancient, particularly
about the knowledge the ancient Greeks had about lodestones, strange minerals with the
power to attract iron. In the meantime, Britain became a major seafaring nation in 1588
when the
Spanish Armada was defeated, opening the way to British settlement of