5 Information System
CEU maintains an internal academic data network. Course registration and grading are computerized, and students are responsible for conducting all necessary procedures in connection with registration. This continually developing service integrates most of the administrative functions students have to deal with during their stay at CEU.

Reading

Task 2
Read the text below. For questions (6 – 10) choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D). Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits

By BENEDICT CAREY

Every September, millions of parents try a kind of psychological witchcraft, to transform their summer-glazed campers into fall students, their video-bugs into bookworms. Advice is cheap and all too familiar: Clear a quiet work space. Stick to a homework schedule. Set goals. Set boundaries. Do not bribe (except in emergencies).

And check out the classroom. Does Junior’s learning style match the new teacher’s approach? Or the school’s philosophy? Maybe the child isn’t "a good fit” for the school.

Such theories have developed in part because of sketchy education research that doesn’t offer clear guidance. Student traits and teaching styles surely interact; so do personalities and at-home rules. The trouble is, no one can predict how.

Yet there are effective approaches to learning, at least for those who are motivated. In recent years, cognitive scientists have shown that a few simple techniques can reliably improve what matters most: how much a student learns from studying.

The findings can help anyone, from a fourth grader doing long division to a retiree taking on a new language. But they directly contradict much of the common wisdom about good study habits, and they have not caught on.

For instance, instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a person studies improves retention. So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one sitting, rather than focusing intensely on a single thing.

"We have known these principles for some time, and it’s intriguing that schools don’t pick them up, or that people don’t learn them by trial and error,” said Robert A. Bjork, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Instead, we walk around with all sorts of unexamined beliefs about what works that are mistaken.”

6 In the 1st paragraph the author advises parents NOT to __________.
offer a child something in return for studying

7 According to the text which of the following is the main problem parents face in September?
Turning their children’s attention to studying

8 The author mentions all of the following EXCEPT ________.
elderly people rarely benefit from new learning techniques

9 By saying "Maybe the child isn’t a ‘good fit’ for the school”, the author implies that __________.
the student’s learning style differs from the teaching approach at school

10 The word "them” in line 25 refers to __________.
principles

Task 3
Read the texts below. Match choices (A – H) to (11 – 15). There are three choices you do not need to use. Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

National Geographic invites you to join a variety of thrilling expeditions. Accompanying each expedition is a diverse team of experts – from naturalists to regional specialists – who will share their knowledge and insights on the wildlife, landscapes, and local culture. See some of the members of our extraordinary team below.

11 Jay Dickman has got an award for his/her work
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jay Dickman has worked in photojournalism for more than 30 years, covering topics as diverse as the war in El Salvador, the Olympics, national political conventions, the Super Bowl, and the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. He lived for three months in a village in Papua New Guinea and spent a week under the Arctic ice in a nuclear attack sub on assignments for National Geographic magazine. His work has also appeared in publications around the world, including LIFE, Time, and Sports Illustrated.

12 Kitty Coley uses sports activities for his/her work
Kitty Coley is a geologist, naturalist, and avid birder who serves as a consultant to National Geographic magazine and has led expeditions for National Geographic for more than eight years. She worked as a geologist for 15 years before becoming involved full-time in expedition travel. Through her work, she has spent extensive time in remote rain forests and rugged geologic settings around the world. Her love of nature has led to exploration through scuba diving, backpacking, white-water and sea kayaking, and mountain biking. Kitty shares her in-depth knowledge about the fascinating aspects of the geology, flora, and fauna in a very interactive, enthusiastic approach.

13 Michael Melford teaches people about his/her profession
National Geographic photographer Michael Melford has produced over 30 stories for National Geographic Traveler magazine, including eight covers. Some of Michael’s recent assignments have focused on America’s national parks, and the need to preserve them. Michael has produced photography for eight books for National Geographic, including three on Alaska, his favorite being Treasures of Alaska, for which he spent four months traveling to every corner of the state. When not shooting for National Geographic, Michael enjoys giving seminars and workshops on photography, and sharing both his love of nature and his extensive knowledge.

14 Tierney Thys is an underwater world expert
National Geographic Emerging Explorer, Tierney Thys, is a marine biologist and documentary filmmaker whose work explores the breadth of animal diversity from pole to pole and chronicles global environmental change. Tierney is a world authority on the giant ocean sunfish, Mola mola, and has led numerous expeditions worldwide from Africa to Baja, Japan, Indonesia and the Galapagos Islands to study these bizarre jelly-eating behemoths. Tierney has also developed and guided National Geographic student marine biology expeditions in Monterey Bay.

15 Kurt Westenbarger specializes in mountain expeditions
Writer and wilderness guide Kurt Westenbarger has led camping and backpacking trips in the Rocky Mountains for more than thirty years. His articles on natural history have appeared in Bicycling, Outdoor Life, Montana Magazine, West Yellowstone News and Big Sky’s Lone Peak Lookout. An instructor at Western Montana College, Kurt is well-versed in the region’s diverse geology, flora, and fauna, as well as the history of the Lewis & Clark expedition and the 1877 Nez Perce flight.

Task 4
Read the text below. Choose from (A – H) the one which best fits each space (16 – 21). There are two choices you do not need to use. Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

Introduction to sleep
When you're in a rush to meet work, school, family, or household responsibilities, do you cut back on your sleep? Like many people, you might think that sleep is merely a "down time" when (16) the brain shuts off and the body rests. Think again.

What is sleep?
Sleep was long considered just a uniform block of time when you are not awake. Thanks to sleep studies done over the past several decades, it is now known that sleep has distinctive stages that cycle throughout the night. Your brain stays active throughout sleep, but (17) different things happen during each stage. For instance, certain stages of sleep are indeed for us to feel well rested and energetic the next day, and other stages help us learn or make memories.

In brief, a number of vital tasks carried out during sleep help maintain good health and enable people to function at their best. On the other hand, not getting enough sleep can be dangerous - for example, (18) you are more likely to be in a car crash if you drive when you are tired.

How much sleep is enough?
Sleep needs vary from person to person, and (19) they change throughout the lifecycle. Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Newborns, on the other hand, sleep between 16 and 18 hours a day, and children in preschool sleep between 10 and 12 hours a day. School-aged children and teens need at least 9 hours of sleep a night.

Some people believe (20) that adults need less sleep as they get older. But there is no evidence to show that older people can get by with less sleep than younger people. As people age, however, they often get less sleep or they tend to spend less time in the deep, restful stages of sleep.

Why sleep is good for you and skimping on it isn't
Does it really matter if (21) you get enough sleep? Absolutely! Not only does the quantity of your sleep matter, but the quality of your sleep is important as well.

Task 5
Read the text below. For questions (22 – 33) choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D). Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

From the History of Moving Pictures

Many believe that the story first began in America in 1877, when two friends were (22) arguing over whether a horse ever had all four feet or hooves off the ground when it galloped. To settle the bet, a photographer was asked to photograph a horse galloping and the bet was settled because you could see that all the hooves were (23) off the ground in some of the photos. What was even more interesting was that if the photos were shown in quick succession the horse looked (24) like it was running – in other words ‘moving pictures’.

The person who became interested in (25) taking the moving pictures to its next step was the famous American inventor Thomas Edison. Actually, he didn’t do the work (26) himself but rather asked a young Scotsman in his employ to design a system, which he did. Now this young fellow was clever because the first thing he did was study other systems-primitive as they were – of moving pictures and then put all the existing technologies together to make the first entire motion picture system. He (27) designed a camera, a projection device and the film. The system was first shown in New York in 1894 and was really very popular. Apparently people (28) lined up around the block to see the wonderful new invention. There were, however, a couple of problems with the system. The camera weighed over 200 kilograms and only one person at a time could see the film.

Well now, news of the new system in America (29) travelled fast and a number of rival European systems started to appear once people had heard about it. The single problem with all the systems was that they couldn’t really (30) project the film onto a screen – you know, so more than one person could see it. Then in 1895, three systems were developed, more or less at the same time and independently of each other. I guess the most famous of these was (31) by the Lumiere Brothers from France, and they called their system the cinematograph which of course is where the word cinema comes from.

Well now, once the problem of projection had been solved, the next (32) challenge for the inventors was to make the films longer and more interesting. A continuing problem at the time was that the films had a (33) tendency to break when they were being played – a problem which was caused by the tension between the two wheels, or ‘reels’ as they are called, which hold the film.

Task 6
Read the texts below. For questions (34 – 45) choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D). Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

Male Birds Belt out Their Song by Putting a Little Muscle into It

Some male songbirds can sing (34) more notes than females because they have stronger muscles to make the sounds. Some scientists used to think it was all about how well the birds could force air out of their lungs, but new research says it has more to do with muscles in the (35) songbirds’ throats.

There’s a reason the boy birds are better singers. They have (36) to attract a mate. The more varied their songs, (37) the better it will stand out from other boy birds who are also singing in hopes of finding a mate. Varied songs also are easier to hear over noises, like a rushing stream or the noisy calls of other birds.

Although all birds (38) are born knowing certain calls, songbirds learn how to sing from their parents. That ability is only found in songbirds, humans and a few other mammals like dolphins, whales and bats. So think about muscles the next time you hear a bird singing. Muscles (39) aren’t found just in your arms and legs, or in a bird’s wings. They also help us make a variety of sounds.

Why Do Songs Get Stuck in Our Heads?

Having a song, tune, or commercial jingle stuck in one's head is a phenomenon

(40) known as having an earworm. Most people have had an earworm at one time. The experience is harmless and unrelated to both obsessive-compulsive disorder and endomusia, the (41) hearing of music that is not really there. Certain songs – simple, repetitive, or oddly incongruous – have properties that act as mental mosquito bites in that they produce a cognitive "itch." The condition also arises when people struggle (42) to remember forgotten lyrics or how a song ends. To scratch a cognitive itch, the brain repeats the song, which then traps the hapless victim in a repeated cycle of itching and scratching. Everyone has his or her own list of demon tunes that haunt. Earworms occur more often among women, musicians, and individuals who (43) tend to worry. Earworms also vary across situations, striking when people (44) are tired or under stress. How can you make an earworm go away? Thinking of something else or actually listening to the song in question are thought to help, but there is presently no research evidence showing what works best. Fortunately, (45) most episodes eventually dissipate on their own.