6-1
Questions 1-12 which are base on

Reading Passage 1 below.
Right and left-handedness in humans
¡¡¡¡Why do humans, virtually alone among all animal species, display a distinct
left or right handedness? Not even our closest relatives among the apes possess
such decided lateral asymmetry, as psychologists call it. Yet about 90 per
cent of every human population that has ever lived appears to have been
right-handed. Professor Bryan Turner at Deakin University has studied the
research literature on left-landed ness and found that handedness goes with
sidedness. So nine out of ten people are right-handed and eight are
right-footed. He noted that this distinctive asymmetry in the human population
is itself systematic. `Humans think in categories: black and white, up and
down, left and right. It's a system of signs that enables us to categorize
phenomena that are essentially ambiguous.'
¡¡¡¡Research has shown that there is genetic or inherited element to handedness.
But while left-handedness tends to run in families, neither left nor right
handers will automatically produce off-spring with the same handedness; in
fact about 6 per cent of children with two right-handed parents will be
left-handed. However, among two left-handed parents, perhaps 40 per cent of
the children will also be left-handed. With one right and one left-handed
parent, 15 to 20 per cent of the offspring will be lefthanded. Even among
identical twins who have exactly the same genes, one in six pairs will differ
in their handedness.
¡¡¡¡What then makes people left-handed if it is not simply genetic? Other factors
must be at work and researchers have turned to the brain for clues. In the
1860s the French surgeon and anthropologist, Dr Paul Broca, made the
remarkable finding that patients who had lost their powers of speech as a
result of a stroke (a blood clot in the brain) had paralysis of the right half
of their body. He noted that since the left hemisphere of the brain controls
the right half of the body, and vice versa, the brain damage must have been
in the brain's left hemisphere, Psychologists now believe that among right
handed people, probably 95 per cent have their language centre in the left
hemisphere, while 5 per cent have right-sided language, Left-handers, however,
do not show the reverse pattern but instead a majority also Some 30 percent
have right hemisphere language.
¡¡¡¡Dr Brinkman, a brain researcher at the Australian National University in
Canberra, has suggested that evolution of speech went with right-handed
preference. According to Brinkman, as the brain evolved, one side became
specialised for fine control of movement (necessary for producing speech) and
along with this evolution came righthand preference. According to Brinkman,
most left-handers have left hemisphere dominance but also some capacity in
the right hemisphere. She has observed that if a left-handed person is
brain-damaged in the left hemisphere, the recovery of speech is quite often
better and this is explained by the fact that left-handers have a more
bilateral speech function. In her studies of macaque monkeys, Brinkman has
noticed that primates (monkeys) seem to learn a hand preference from their
mother in the first year of life but this could be one hand or the other. In
humans, however, the specialisation in function of the two hemispheres results
in anatomical differences; areas that are involved with the production of
speech are usually larger on the left side than on the right. Since monkeys
have not acquired the art of speech, one would not expect to see such a
variation but Brinkman claims to have discovered a trend in monkeys towards
the asymmetry that is evident in the human brain.
¡¡¡¡Two American researchers, Geschwind and Galaburda, studied the brains of human
embryos and discovered that the left-right asymmetry exists before birth. But
as the brain develops, a number of things can affect it. Every brain is
initially female in its organisation and it only becomes a male brain when
the male foetus begins to secrete hormones. Geschwind and Galaburda knew that
different parts of the brain mature at different rates; the right hemisphere
develops first, then the left. Moreover, a girl's brain develops somewhat
faster than that of a boy. So, if something happens to the brain's development
during pregnancy, it is more likely to be affected in a male and the hemisphere
more likely to be involved is the left. The brain may become less lateralised
and this in turn could result in left-handedness and the development of certain
superior skills that have their origins in the left hemisphere such as logic,
rationality and abstraction. It should be no surprise then that among
mathematicians and architects, left-handers tend to be more common and there
are more left-handed males than females.
¡¡¡¡The results of this research may be some consolation to left-handers who have
for centuries lived in a world designed to suit right-handed people. However,
what is alarming, according to Mr. Charles Moore, a writer and journalist,
is the way the word `right' reinforces its own virtue. Subliminally he says,
language tells people to think that anything on the right can be trusted while
anything on the left is dangerous or even sinister. We speak of left-handed
compliments and according to Moore, `it is no coincidence that left-hand,
often develop a stammer as they are robbed of their freedom of speech'. However,
as more research is undertaken on the causes of left handedness, attitudes
towards left-handed people are gradually changing for the better. Indeed when
the champion tennis player Indeed when the champion tennis player Ivan Lendl
was asked what the single thing improve his game, he said he would like to
become a left-hander.
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Geoff Maslenª«

Questions 1-7
Use the information in the text to match the people ( listed A-E ) with the opinions ( listed 1-7 ) below. Write the appropriate letter ( A-E ) in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet. Some people match more than one opinion.
A ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Dr Broca
B ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Dr Brinkman
C ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Geschwind and Galaburda
D ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Charles Moore
E ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Professor Turner

Example ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Answer
Monkeys do not show a species specific preference for ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡B
Left or right-handedness.

1 Human beings started to show a preference for right-handedness when
they first developed language.
2 Society is prejudiced against left-handed people.
3 Boys are more likely to be left-handed.
4 After a stroke, left-handed people recover their speech more quickly
than right-handed people.
5 People who suffer strokes on the left side of the brain usually lose
their power of speech.
6 The two sides of the brain develop different functions before birth.
7 Asymmetry is a common feature of the human body.

¡¡

Question 8-10
Using the information in the passage, complete the table below. Write your answer in boxes 8-10 on your answer sheet.

Question 11-12
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 11 and 12 on your answer sheet.
11 A study of monkeys has shown that
A monkeys are not usually right-handed.
B monkeys display a capacity for speech.
C monkey brains are smaller than human brains.
D monkey brains are asymmetric.
12 According to the writer, left-handed people.
A will often develop a stammer.
B have undergone hardship for years.
C are untrustworthy.
D are good tennis players.

Answers:
1-7.BDCBACE
8. 15-20%
9. 40%
10. 6%
11. D
12. B

ielts_read_zyz_6_3
Questions 13-27 which are base on

You should spend about 20minutes on Questions 13-27 which are on Reading Passage 2 below.

Migratory Beekeeping
¡¡¡¡Of the 2,000 commercial beekeepers in the United States about half migrate.
This pays off in two ways. Moving north in the summer and south in the winter
lets sees work a longer blooming season, making more honey - and - money for
their keepers. Second, beekeepers can carry their hives to farmers who need
bees to pollinate their crops. Every spring a migratory beekeepers in
California may move up to 160 million bees to flowering fields in Minnesota
and every winter his family may haul the hives back to California, where
farmers will rent the bees to pollinate almond and cherry trees.
¡¡¡¡Migratory beekeeping is nothing new. The ancient Egyptians moved clay hives,
probably on rafts, down the Nile to follow the bloom and nectar flow as it
moved toward Cairo. In the 18801 North American beekeepers experimented with
the same idea, moving bees on barges along the Mississippi and on waterways
in Florida but their lighter, wooden hives kept falling into the water. Other
keepers tried the railroad and horse-drawn wagons, but that didn't prove
practical. Not until the 1920s when cars and trucks became affordable and roads
improved, did migratory beekeeping begin to catch on.
¡¡¡¡For the California beekeeper, the pollination season begins in February. At
this time, the beehives are in particular demand by farmers who have almond
groves; They need two hives an acre. For the three-week long bloom, beekeepers
can hire out their hives for $32 each. It's a bonanza for the bees too. Most
people consider almond honey too bitter to eat so the bees get to keep it for
themselves.
¡¡¡¡By early March it is time to move the bees. It can take up to seven
nights to pack the 4,000 or so hives that a beekeeper may own. These are not moved
in the middle of the day because too many of the bees would end up homeless.
But at night, the hives are stacked onto wooden pallets, back-to-back in sets
of four, and lifted onto a truck. It is not necessary to wear gloves or a
beekeeper's veil because the hives are not being opened and the bees should
remain relatively quiet. Just in case some are still lively, bees can be
pacified with a few puffs of smoke blown into each hive's narrow entrance.
In their new location, the beekeeper will pay the farmer to allow his bees
to feed in such places as orange groves. The honey produced here is fragrant
and sweet and can be sold by the beekeepers. To encourage the bees to produce
as much honey as possible during this period, the beekeepers open the hives
and stack extra boxes called supers on top. These temporary hive extensions
contain frames of empty comb for the bees to fill with honey. In the brood
chamber below, the bees will stash honey to eat later. To prevent the queen
from crawling up to the top and laying eggs, a screen can be inserted between
the brood chamber and the supers. Three weeks later the honey can be gathered.
Foul smelling chemicals are often used to irritate the bees and drive them
down into the hive's bottom boxes, leaving the honey-filled supers more or
less bee free. These can then be pulled off the hive. They are heavy with honey
and may weigh up to 90 pounds each cell. The uncapped frames are put in a
carousel that sits on the bottom of a large stainless steel drum. The carousel
is filled to capacity with 72 frames. A switch is flipped and the frames begin
to whirl at 300 revolutions per minute; centrifugal force throes the honey
out of the combs. Finally the honey is poured into barrels for shipment.
After this, approximately a quarter of the hives weakened by disease, mites,
or an ageing or dead queen, will have to be replaced. To create new colonies,
a healthy double hive, teeming with bees, can be separated into two boxes.
One half will hold the queen and a young, already mated queen can be put in
the other half, to make two hives from one. By the time the flowers bloom,
the new queens will be laying eggs, filling each hive with young worker bees.
The beekeeper's family will then migrate with them to their summer location.

Adapted from 'America's Beekeepers: Hives for Hive' by Alan Mairson, National Geographic.

Question 13-19
The flow chart below outlines the movements of the migratory beekeeper as described in Reading Passage 2
Complete the flow chart. Choose your answers from the box at the bottom of the page and write your answers in boxes 13-19 on your answer sheet.

Beekeeper Movements
Example
In February, California farmers hire bees to help pollinate almond trees.

In March, beekeepers ¡­(13)¡­ for migration at night when the hives are ¡­(14)¡­ and the bees are generally tranquil. A little ¡­(15)¡­ can ensure that this is the case.

They transport their hives to orange groves where farmers ¡­(16)¡­ beekeepers for placing them on their land. Here the bees make honey.

After three weeks, the supers can be taken to a warehouse where ¡­(17)¡­ are used to remove the wax and extract the honey from the ¡­(18)¡­

After the honey collection. The old hives are rejected. Good double hives are ¡­(19)¡­ and re-queened and the beekeeper transports them to their summer base.

List of Word/Phrases
smoke¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡chemicals¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡pay
barrels¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡protection¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡charge
set off¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡light¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡split
pollinate¡¡¡¡¡¡machines¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡supers
combs¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡screen¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡prepare
full¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡empty¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡queens

Questions 20-23
Label the diagram below. Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 20-23 on your answer sheet
A BEEHIVE

¡¡

Questions 24-27
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2 ?
In boxes 24-27 write
YES if the statement agrees with the information given
NO if the statement contradicts the information given
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this

24 The Egyptians keep bees on the banks of the Nile.
25 First attempts at migratory beekeeping in America were unsuccessful.
26 Bees keep honey for themselves in the bottom of the hive.
27 The honey is spun to make it liquid.

Answers:
13 prepare
14 full
15 smoke
16 charge
17 machines
18 combs
19 split
20 (hexagonal) cells/comb
21 frames (of comb)
22 screen
23 brood chamber
24 NOT GIVEN
25 YES
26 YES
27 NO

¡¡

ielts_read_zyz_6_3
Passage 3
TOURISM

Tourism, holidaymaking and travel are these days more significant social phenomena than
most commentators have considered. On the face of it there could not be a more trivial
subject for a book. And indeed since social scientists have had considerable difficulty
explaining weightier topics, such as word or politics, it might be thought that they would
have great difficulties in accounting for more trivial phenomena such as holidaymaking.
However, there are interesting parallels with the study of deviance. This involves the
investigation of bizarre and idiosyncratic social practices which happen to be defined as
deviant in some societies but not necessarily in others. The assumption is that the
investigation of deviance can reveal interesting and significant aspects of normal societies.
It could be said that a similar analysis can be applied to tourism.

Tourism is a leisure activity which presupposes its opposite namely regulated and
organized work. It is one manifestation of how work and leisure are organized as separate
and regulated spheres of social practice in modern societies. Indeed acting as a tourist is
one of the defining characteristics of being modern and the popular concept of tourism is
that it is organized within particular places and occurs for regularized periods of time.
Tourist relationships arise from a movement of people to and their stay in various
destinations. This necessarily involves some movement, that is the journey and a period of
stay in a new place or places. The journey and the stay are by definition outside the normal
places of residence and work and are of a short-term and temporary nature and there is a
clear intention to return 'home' within a relatively short period of time.

A substantial proportion of the population of modern societies engages in such tourist
practices new socialized forms of provision have developed in order to cope with the mass
character of the gazes of tourists, as opposed to the individual character of travel. Places
are chosen to be visited and be gazed upon because there is an anticipation, especially
through daydreaming and fantasy, of intense pleasures, either on a different scale or
involving different senses from those constructed and sustained through a variety of
non-tourist practices, such as films, TV, literature, magazines, records, and videos which
construct and reinforce this daydreaming.

Tourists tend to visit features of landscape and townscape which separate them off from
everyday experience. Such aspects are viewed because they are taken to be in some sense
out of the ordinary. The viewing of these tourist sights often involves different forms of
these tourist sights often involves different forms of social patterning with a much greater
sensitivity to visual elements of landscape or townscape than is normally found in everyday
life. People linger over these sights in a way that they would not normally do in their home
environment and the vision is objectified or captured through photographs, postcard, films
and so on which enable the memory to be endlessly reproduced and recaptured.

One of the earliest dissertations on the subject of tourism is Boorstin's analysis of 'the
pseudo-event' (1964) where he argues that contemporary. Americans cannot experience
'reality' directly but thrive on 'pseudo-events'. Isolated from the host environment and the
local people, the mass tourist travels in guided groups and finds pleasure in inauthentic
contrived attractions, gullibly enjoying the pseudo-events and disregarding the real world
outside. Over time the images generated of different tourist sights come to constitute a
closed self-perpetuating system of illusions which provide the tourist with the basis for
selecting and evaluating potential places to visit. Such visits are made, says

Boorstin within the environmental bubble of the familiar American-style hotel
which insulates the tourist from the strangeness of the host environment.
F To service the burgeoning tourist industry an array of professionals has
developed who attempt to reproduce ever-new objects for the tourist to look
at. These objects or places are located in a complex and changing hierarchy.
This depends upon the interplay between, on the one hand, competition between
interests involved in the provision of such objects and on the other hand
changing class gender and generational distinctions of taste within the
potential population of visitors. It has been said that to be a tourist is
one of the characteristics of the 'modern experience' Not to 'go away' is
like not possessing a car or a nice house. Travel is a marker of status in
modern societies and is also thought to be necessary for good health. The role
of the professional therefore is to cater for the needs and tastes of the
tourists in accordance with their class and overall expectations.

Questions 28-32
Reading Passage 3 has 6 paragraphs (A-F). Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the appropriate numbers (i=ix) in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet. Paragraph D has been done for you as an example.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs so you will not use all of them
You may use any heading more than once.

List of Headings
i ¡¡¡¡ The politics of tourism
ii ¡¡¡¡The cost of tourism
iii ¡¡¡¡Justifying the study of tourism
iv ¡¡¡¡Tourism contrasted with travel
v ¡¡¡¡The essence of modern tourism
vi ¡¡¡¡Tourism versus leisure.
vii ? ¡¡The artificiality of modern tourism
viii ¡¡ The role of modern tour guides
ix ¡¡¡¡Creating an alternative to the everyday experience

28 Paragraph A
29 Paragraph A

Example ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Answer
Paragraph D ¡¡¡¡¡¡ix

31 Paragraph E
32 Paragraph F

Questions 33-37
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writers in Reading Passage 3 ?
In boxes 33-37 write
YES ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡if the statement agrees with the writer
NO ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT ¡¡ ¡¡¡¡¡¡ GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

Example ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Answer
People who can't afford to travel watch films and TV. ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡NOT GIVEN

33 Tourism is a trivial subject.
34 An analysis of deviance can act as a model for the analysis of tourism.
35 Tourists usually choose to travel overseas.
36 Tourists focus more on places they visit than those at home.
37 Tour operators try to cheat tourist.

Question 38-41
Choose one phrase (A-H) from the list of phrases to complete each key point below. Write the appropriate letters (A-H) in boxes 38-41 on your answer sheet.
The information in the completed sentences should be an accurate summary of points made by the writer.
NB There are more phrases A-H than sentences so you will not use them all.
You may use any phrase more than once.
38 Our concept of tourism arises from¡­
39 The media can be used to enhance¡­
40 People view tourist landscapes in a different way from¡­
41 Group tours encourage participants to look at¡­

List of Phrases
A local people and their environment.
B the expectations of tourists.
C the phenomena of holidaymaking.
D the distinction we make between work and leisure.
E the individual character of travel.
F places seen in everyday life.
G photographs which recapture our holidays.
H sights designed specially for tourists.

Answers
28 iii
29 v
30 iv
31 vii
32 viii
33 NO
34 YES
35 NOT GIVEN
36 YES
37 NOT GIVEN
38 D
39 B
40 F
41 H

ielts_read_zyz_6_4
Myths about Public Speaking

¡¡¡¡Our fears of public speaking result not only from what we do not know or
understand about public communication but also from misconceptions and myths
about public encounters. These misconceptions and myths persist among
professional people as well as the general public. Let us examine these
persistent myths about public communication, which, like our ignorance and
misunderstandings of the fundamental assumptions and requirements of public
speaking, exacerbate our fears and prevent our development as competent public
persons.
¡¡¡¡A. Perhaps the most dogged and persistent myth about public communication is
that it is a "special" activity reserved for unusual occasions. After all,
how often do you make a public speech? There are only a few special occasions
during the year when even an outgoing professional person will step behind
a podium to give a public speech, and many professional people can count on
one hand the number of public speeches given in a career. Surely, then, public
communication is a rare activity reserved for especially important occasions.
This argument, of course, ignores the true nature of public communication and
the nature of the occasions in which it occurs. When we engage with people
we do not know well to solve problems, share understanding and perspectives,
advocate points of view, or seek stimulation, we are engaged in public speaking.
Public communication is a familiar, daily activity that occurs in the streets,
in restaurant, in board rooms, courtrooms, parks, offices factories and
meetings.
¡¡¡¡Is public speaking an unusual activity reserved for special occasions and
restricted to the lectern or the platform? Hardly. Rather it is, and should
be developed as, an everyday activity occurring in any location where people
come together
.
B. A related misconception about public communication is the belief that the
public speaker is a specially gifted individual with innate abilities and
God_given propensities. While most professional people would reject the idea
that public speakers are born, not made, they nevertheless often fell that
the effective public communicator has developed unusual personal talents to
a remarkable degree.

¡¡¡¡At the heart of this misconception-like the myth of public speaking as a
special'activity_is an overly narrow view of what a public person is and does.
Development as an effective public communicator begins with the understanding
that you need not be a nationally-known, speak-for-pay, professional platform
speaker to be a competent public person. The public speaker is an ordinary
person who confronts the necessity of being a public person and uses common
abilities to meet the fundamental assumptions and requirements of daily public
encounters.

¡¡¡¡C. A less widespread but serious misconception of public speaking is reflected
in the belief that public speeches are "made for the ages." A public speech
is something viewed as an historical event which will be part of a continuing
and generally available public record. Some public speeches are faithfully
recorded, transcribed, reproduced, and made part of broadly available
historical records.

¡¡¡¡Those instances are rare compared to the thousands of unrecorded public
speeches made every day. Public communication is usually situation specific
and ephemeral. Most audiences do well if they remember as much as 40 per cent
of what a speaker says immediately after the speaker concludes; even less is
retained as time goes by. This fact is both reassuring and challenging to the
public communicator. On the one hand, it suggests that there is room for human
error in making public pronouncements; on the other hand, it challenges the
public speaker to be as informed as possible and to strive to defeat the poor
listening habits of most public audiences.

¡¡¡¡D. Finally, professional people perhaps more than other groups often subscribe
to the misconception that public communication must be an exact science, that
if it is done properly it will succeed. The troublesome corollary to this
reasoning is that if public communication fails, it is because it was
improperly prepared or executed. This argument blithely ignores the vagaries
of human interaction. Public speakers achieve their goals through their
listeners, and the only truly predictable aspect of human listeners is their
unpredictability. Further, public messages may succeed despite inadequate
preparation and dreadful delivery.
¡¡¡¡Professional people often mismanage their fears of public communication. Once
we understand what public encounters assume and demand, once we unburden
ourselves of the myths that handicap our growth as public persons, we can
properly begin to develop as competent public communicators.

Questions 1-5
The reading passage 'Myths about Public Speaking' has four sections A-D. In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet write the appropriate letter A, B, C, or D to show in which section you can find a discussion of the following points. You may use any letter more than once.
1. A person's ability to be a public speaker.
2. Whether public speeches are remembered for a long time.
3. A definition of public speaking.
4. The relationship of preparation to success in public speaking.
5. Retention rates as a challenge to public speakers.

Questions 6-11
Do you following statements reflect the claims of the writer in the reading passage?
In boxes 6-11 on your answer sheet write:
YES ¡¡¡¡¡¡ ¡¡¡¡if the statement agrees with the writer.
NO ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡if the statement does not agree with the writer.
NOT ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage.

6. Very few people can become good public speakers.
7. Public communication is an ordinary daily activity.
8. Public speaking can be learned at specially designated schools.
9. Most good public speakers lead happy and productive lives.
10. It is impossible to predict how a speech will be received.
11. There is little place for public speaking in the life of the ordinary person.
12.The writer defines public speaking as any activity where people jointly explore problems, knowledge, attitude and opinions, or, look for()
13.At the end of most public speeches, most audiences immediately forget about()
of what they have just heard.
14.Because most public speeches are shoort-lived, the speaker should work
to counteract the () of the () listeners.

1-5 BCADC
6. NO
7. YES
8. NOT GIVEN
9. NOT GIVEN
10. YES
11. NO
12 stimulation
13 60%
14 poor listening habits

Garbage In£¬Garbage Out

¡¡¡¡There are many ways of obtaining an understanding of people's behaviour. One
of these is to study the objects discarded by a community}objects used in daily
lives. The study of the refuse of a society is the basis for the science of
archaeology in which the lives and behaviour of past societies are minutely
examined. .Some recent studies have indicated the degree to which rubbish is
socially defined.

¡¡¡¡For several years the University of Arizona,, USA has been running a Garbage!
Project, in which garbage is collected, sorted out and noted. It began in
1973withan arrangement whereby the City of Tucson collected for analysis
garbage from randomly selected households in designated census collection
districts. Since then the researchers have studied other cities both in the
USA and Mexico, refining their techniques and procedures in response to the
challenges of validating and understanding the often unexpected results they
have obtained. Garbage is sorted according to an extremely detailed schedule,
a range of data for each item is recorded on a standardised coding form, and
the researchers cross-tabulate their findings with information from census
and other social surveys.

¡¡¡¡This Project arose out of courses designed to teach students at the University
the principles of archaeological methodology and to sensitise them to the
complex and frequently surprising links between cultural assumptions and
physical realities. Often a considerable discrepancy exists between what
people say they do -or even think they do -and what they actually do. In one
Garbage Project study none of the Hispanic (Spanish-speaking)women in the
sample admitted to using as much as a single serving of commercially-prepared
baby food, clearly reflecting cultural expectations about proper mothering.
Yet garbage from the Hispanic households with infants contained just as many
baby food containers as garbage from non-Hispanic households with infants.

¡¡¡¡The Project leaders then decided to look not only at what was thrown away,
but what happened to it after that. In many counties waste is disposed of in
landfills, the rubbish is compacted and buried in the ground. So in 1987,the
Project expanded its activities to include the excavation of landaus across
the United States Y-and Canada. Surprisingly, no-one had ever attempted such
excavations before.

¡¡¡¡The researchers discovered that far from being sites of chemical and biologicalactivity,theinteriorsofwastelandfillsareratherinactive,with the
possible exception of those established in swamps. Newspapers buried 20or more
years previously usually remained perfectly legible, and a remarkable amount
of food wastes of similar age also remained intact.

¡¡¡¡While discarded household products such as paints, pesticides, cleaners and
cosmetics result in a fair amount of hazardous substances being contained in
fear, provided that a landfillis properly sited and constructed. Garbage
projected researchers have found that the leadut6donotmigratefar,and tend to
get absorbed by the other materials in the immediate surrounds.'

¡¡¡¡The composition of landfills is also strikingly different from what
is commonly believed. In a 1990 US survey people were asked whether
particular items were a major cause of garbage problems. Disposable
nappies (baby diapers) were identified as a major cause by41per cent
of the survey respondents, plastic bottles a by 29 per cent, all forms
of paper by six per cent, and construction debris by zero per cent.
Yet Garbage Project data shows that disposable nappies make up less
than two per cent of the volume of landfills and plastic bottles less
than one per cent. On the other hand, over 40 per cent of the volume
of landfills is composed of paper and around 12 per cent is
construction debris.

¡¡¡¡Packaging -- the paper and plastic wrapping around goods bought
-- has also been seen as a serious cause of pollution. But while
some packaging is excessive, the Garbage Project researchers note
that most manufacturers use as little as possible, because less
is cheaper. They also point out that modem product packaging
frequently functions reduce the overall size of the solid-waste
stream.

¡¡¡¡This apparent paradox is illustrated by the results of a
comparison of garbage from a large and socially diverse sample
of homeholds in Mexico City with a similarly large and diverse
sample m three United States cities. Even after correcting for
differences in family size, US households generated far less
garbage than the Mexican ones. Became they are much more dependent
on processed and packaged foods than Mexican households, US
homeholds produce much less food debris.(And most of the leaves,
husks, etc. that the US processor has removed from the food can
be used in the manufacture of other products, rather than entering
the waste steam as is the likely fate with fresh produce purchased
by households.)

¡¡¡¡One criticism made of Western societies is that the people are
wasteful and throw things away while they are still useable. This,
however, does not seem to be true. Garbage Project data showed
that furniture and consumer appliances were entering the solid
waste stream at a rate very much less than would be expected from
production and service-life figures. So the researchers set up
a study to track the fate of such item and thus gained an insight
into the huge informal and commercial trade in used goods that
rarely turns up in official calculations and statistics.

¡¡¡¡The Garbage Project's work shows how many misconceptions exist
about garbage. The researchers are therefore critical of attempts
to promote one type of waste management, such as source reduction
or recycling, over others, such as incineration or landfilling.
Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and what may be
appropriate for one locality may not be appropriate for another.
Glossary: Leachate: water carrying impurities which has filtered
through the soil

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡The Garbage Project
started in 1973

first studied garbage in the city of (29) since then has studied it in other cities in USA and (30)

method: garbage collected and sorted, the information noted on (31)

finding compared with (32) and other social surveys.

reason for Project show students the (33) of archaeological (34)

from 1987 Garbage Project studied (35)in USA and CANADA.

Keys:29 Tucson 30 Mexico 31 standardised coding form 32 census 33 principles 34 methodology 35 landfills

MISCONCEPTIONS ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡COUNTERARGUMENTS
II: Household items, like ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡A:40% of landfills is paper
disposable nappies ,are a ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ F: disposable nappies make up
major cause of garbage ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ less than 2% of landfills
problems.

Counter arguments for Misconception II: A& F

MISCONCEPTIONS ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡COUNTERARGUMENTS
III: packaging is wasteful, and ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡D: processing and packaging
cause excess garbage. ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡cuts down on other garbage
K: ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ ¡¡¡¡manufacture cut their costs
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡by using as little packaging
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡as possible