You are going to read an extract from a magazine article about attitudes towards reality TV. For questions 31–36, choose the answer which you think fits best according to the text.

Today's university students have none of the fear of "Big Brother" that marked their parents' generation. In fact, their fascination with the notion of watching and being watched has fuelled a dramatic shift in entertainment programming and ushered in the era of Reality Television.

Mark Andrejevic, an assistant professor of communication studies, says a number of factors including technology and economy paved the way for the rise of reality television, but none so much as a transformation of Americans' attitudes towards surveillance.

As a graduate student at the University of Colorado in the mid- to late 1990s, he studied the ways in which new technology allowed viewers to move from the role of passive media consumers to active participants. "I was interested in the ways that the promise of participation also became a means of monitoring people," he says. "All over the Internet people were providing information about themselves that could be used by marketers. Being watched became more and more economically productive."

Andrejevic believes that the interactivity of the Internet paved the way for reality TV mania. He interviewed producers of early reality programmes such as MTV's The Real World who said that they initially had a hard time finding people willing to have their lives taped nearly 24 hours a day for several months. That was 1992. Now they hold auditions in college towns and thousands of young people form lines snaking for blocks just for the chance to audition. "There are now more people applying to The Real World each year than to Harvard," Andrejevic says.

The key to that success is connected to people's increasing comfort with levels of surveillance that were once hated in American society. Andrejevic has attempted to think about the ways in which reality TV reconfigures public attitudes about surveillance. He says: "We're trained to make a split between private and public surveillance - to be worried about government surveillance but not private, which is entertainment or gathering information to serve us better. We're moving into a period where that distinction starts to dissolve. Surveillance is becoming so pervasive that it's time to start worrying about it as a form of social control."

That viewers of reality programmes don't worry about surveillance or social control is testament to the power of television as a messenger. Andrejevic points out that "The cast members on these shows are constantly talking about how great the experience is and how much they have grown personally because of it. It connotes honesty – you can't hide anything about yourself if you're on camera all day every day. It becomes a form of therapy or almost a kind of extreme sport - how long can you withstand allowing yourself to be videotaped?"

Viewers believe in the benefits cast members describe and crave that opportunity for themselves. In this way, each programme becomes a kind of advertisement for itself. Millions of university students watched The Real World and then began clamouring for the opportunity to participate. The same is true for newer programmes including Survivor, American Idol, Fear Factor and the like.

Andrejevic says he encourages his students to look beyond the characters and the surface glamour of reality television and consider the broader issues of surveillance, privacy, democracy, and technology that the shows present.

"I try to cure my students of the habit of watching reality TV uncritically," he says. "The challenge of teaching popular culture is that students are trained to separate the world of academics from the world of popular culture. They tend not to think of that part of life using theories they have learned in class. There's a tendency with students to say 'you're reading too much into it.' But TV is so powerful in conveying messages about the world precisely because people don't think it's doing that. There's something so vital about reality TV as a cultural form," he continues. "It's always changing, moving so fast, continuously reinventing itself. It gloms on to cultural trends. It's a good place to examine and inspect our culture."

(31) What does the phrase 'paved the way' mean in paragraph 2?

You are going to read a magazine article about a successful disabled climber. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences the one which fits each gap (37–42). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.


The rock climber with one leg and a determination to reach the top

Born with one leg, the 21-year-old Phil Mitchell is the star of the British Paraclimbing Team and practises a sport that demands tenacity, strength and the capacity to ‘get battered quite a lot’. Mitchell first visited a climbing wall three years ago and instantly fell in love with the sport. But despite his success in the competitive arena, the climber’s true passion is exploring the great outdoors. ‘The variety of outdoor climbing appeals to me much more than the sport climbs,’ says Phil. 37____ I really like that variety, and I don’t limit myself because otherwise you can’t climb using different styles and techniques.’

Mitchell has a tight friendship circle, all of whom spend their free time traversing the UK in search of the perfect climb. Friendship is clearly very important to the young climber, and the camaraderie of his fellow climbers is what helps him continuously work on ways to conquer the limitations of his disability. ‘I think that’s what happens with all friendship groups – you push each other. And yes, it’s sometimes frustrating because I’m missing a leg, but then there’s the challenge to get around it, to work past it and push harder. I just think that when I complain, I’m being childish. 38____But I’ve never got really annoyed, I’m just stubborn. I’ll only give up when I am utterly beaten – when I’ve tried every single way and it’s still not working.’

Paraclimbing gives disabled individuals the chance to experience their sport in a competitive environment. ‘There are three competitions on the GB Paraclimbing Circuit,’ Mitchell explains. ‘One in London, one in Newcastle and one in Manchester. You have to complete three sport climbs and three boulder problems, and the way they score it is pretty simple. Each hold has a value up to 100. 39____

However, like many events in the Paralympics, slight differences in disabilities create problems when the competitors have to be placed into categories, says Mitchell. ‘Although I’m a full leg amputee, my best friend – who has brain damage – competes in the same category as me, despite the fact that he has four contact points and I only have three. 40____So presumably as more people discover paraclimbing, the categories will be refined.’

The young man clearly doesn’t view his disability as such, instead approaching his climbing with the same attitude as any other sportsman. ‘Everybody is physically different, for instance, some people are too short to make certain moves. And that’s all that I am really, just not physically suited to some moves. 41____Everyone’s different, and you just have to learn to work with what you’ve got.’

Mitchell’s injury rate certainly reflects his talent for climbing. ‘I haven’t hurt myself much, though I really quite badly injured my ankle last year when I fell and landed between the two crash mats rather than on them. 42____But you’ve just got to be brave and pick yourself up, because you get battered quite a lot, and that’s really just part of the sport.’

(37) Choose the correct answer:

You are going to read a newspaper article about various national parks in the United States. For questions 43–52, choose from the parks (A–D). The parks may be chosen more than once.


A. Channel Islands, California
Though Channel Islands National Park lies just 11 miles off the southern California coast, less than an hour away by boat, few people actually venture to this undeveloped, eight-island chain (five comprise the national park). What they’re missing: a sublime throwback to California of old, where craggy arches, spindly spires and grassy hills jut up from the Pacific, without a car or mobile phone in sight. What makes Channel Islands even more special are its plants and animals – more than 150 endemic or unique species have earned it the nickname ‘North American Galapagos’. This is the only place in the world you’ll see, for example, island fox, island deer mouse and yellow-blooming coreopsis. Just as amazing is the life in the surrounding waters: more than 30 species of sea animals – sea lions, elephant seals, whales – cavort about. Of special note: the largest aggregation of blue whales in the world convenes here every summer.


B. Pinnacles, California
One second you’re driving along a two-lane road just two hours south of San Francisco, enjoying pretty, chaparral-carpeted hills. The next, out of nowhere, looms the sky-high castle of jagged, red-rock spikes and monoliths belonging to America’s newest national park. Upgraded from national monument to national park in 2013 due in part to its important condor recovery program, Pinnacles is little trekked and little known – one of the best reasons to visit. Its postage-stamp size, just 26,606 acres, makes it manageable in a day. Strike out on more than 30 miles of trails ranging from easy to arduous and venture into pitch-black, bat-inhabited caves (take a headlamp). And always keep an eye out for condors, those prehistoric-looking raptors with wingspans reaching up to 10 ft; their favourite haunts include High Peaks in the early morning or early evening or along the ridge just southeast of the campground.

C. Denali, Alaska
Only one road accesses six-million-acre Denali, a single, mostly unpaved, 92-mile strip that opens up dramatic views of the subarctic wilderness – and perhaps offers the best chance to experience wildlife of any national park. No cars are allowed beyond Mile 15; everyone must jump aboard a shuttle bus. This is a good thing, given the road’s precipitous, winding nature (and the temptation to keep peering at the ever-more-dramatic landscape). A constant companion on the horizon are the massive, snow-capped peaks of the Alaska Range, topped by the surreal, 20,320-ft Denali (also known as Mount McKinley), North America’s tallest mountain. Along the way, keep an eye out for sightings of the park’s ‘big five’, Alaska style: moose, caribou, sheep, wolf and cinnamon-coloured Toklat grizzlies. At the end of the road awaits Wonder Lake, with stunning reflections of Denali on clear-sky days.


D. Everglades, Florida
At first glance, Florida’s Everglades does not impress. Its centrepiece is a miles-wide river at most just a few inches deep that creeps through expansive green-brown sawgrass from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. That’s not the grandeur one might expect from a national park. But take a closer look and you’ll discover that this seemingly nondescript, low-lying, subtropical land, actually comprising several different ecosystems (sawgrass prairie, jungle-like hammock and mangrove swamp), is not quite so dull. Indeed, these million-plus acres of wetlands harbour 200 types of fish, 350 species of birds, 120 different kinds of trees and more than 1,000 kinds of plants — and that’s just for starters. Everglades was founded in 1947 to preserve this unique jumble of ecosystems, the first national park established for the sake of flora and fauna rather than geologic scenery.

Of which national park does the writer mention