Roman tunnels
The Persians, who lived in present-day Iran, were one of the first civilizations to build tunnels that provided a reliable supply of water to human settlements in dry areas. In the early first millennium BCE, they introduced the qanat method of tunnel construction, which consisted of placing posts over a hill in a straight line, to ensure that the tunnel kept to its route, and then digging vertical shafts down into the ground at regular intervals. Underground, workers removed the earth from between the ends of the shafts, creating a tunnel. The excavated soil was taken up to the surface using the shafts, which also provided ventilation during the work. Once the tunnel was completed, it allowed water to flow from the top of a hillside down towards a canal, which supplied water for human use. Remarkably, some qanats built by the Persians 2,700 years ago are still in use today.
They later passed on their knowledge to the Romans, who also used the qanat method to construct water-supply tunnels for agriculture. Roman qanat tunnels were constructed with vertical shafts dug at intervals of between 30 and 60 meters. The shafts were equipped with handholds and footholds to help those climbing in and out of them and were covered with a wooden or stone lid. To ensure that the shafts were vertical, Romans hung a plumb line from a rod placed across the top of each shaft and made sure that the weight at the end of it hung in the center of the shaft. Plumb lines were also used to measure the depth of the shaft and to determine the slope of the tunnel. The 5.6-kilometer-long Claudius tunnel, built in 41 CE to drain the Fucine Lake in central Italy, had shafts that were up to 122 meters deep, took 11 years to build and involved approximately 30,000 workers.
By the 6th century BCE, a second method of tunnel construction appeared called the counter-excavation method, in which the tunnel was constructed from both ends. It was used to cut through high mountains when the qanat method was not a practical alternative. This method required greater planning and advanced knowledge of surveying, mathematics and geometry as both ends of a tunnel had to meet correctly at the center of the mountain. Adjustments to the direction of the tunnel also had to be made whenever builders encountered geological problems or when it deviated from its set path. They constantly checked the tunnel’s advancing direction, for example, by looking back at the light that penetrated through the tunnel mouth, and made corrections whenever necessary. Large deviations could happen, and they could result in one end of the tunnel not being usable. An inscription written on the side of a 428-meter tunnel, built by the Romans as part of the Saldae aqueduct system in modern-day Algeria, describes how the two teams of builders missed each other in the mountain and how the later construction of a lateral link between both corridors corrected the initial error.
The Romans dug tunnels for their roads using the counter-excavation method, whenever they encountered obstacles such as hills or mountains that were too high for roads to pass over. An example is the 37-meter-long, 6-meter-high, Furlo Pass Tunnel built in Italy in 69-79 CE. Remarkably, a modern road still uses this tunnel today. Tunnels were also built for mineral extraction. Miners would locate a mineral vein and then pursue it with shafts and tunnels underground. Traces of such tunnels used to mine gold can still be found at the Dolaucothi mines in Wales. When the sole purpose of a tunnel was mineral extraction, construction required less planning, as the tunnel route was determined by the mineral vein.
Roman tunnel projects were carefully planned and carried out. The length of time it took to construct a tunnel depended on the method being used and the type of rock being excavated. The qanat construction method was usually faster than the counter-excavation method as it was more straightforward. This was because the mountain could be excavated not only from the tunnel mouths but also from shafts. The type of rock could also influence construction times. When the rock was hard, the Romans employed a technique called fire quenching which consisted of heating the rock with fire, and then suddenly cooling it with cold water so that it would crack. Progress through hard rock could be very slow, and it was not uncommon for tunnels to take years, if not decades, to be built. Construction marks left on a Roman tunnel in Bologna show that the rate of advance through solid rock was 30 centimeters per day. In contrast, the rate of advance of the Claudius tunnel can be calculated at 1.4 meters per day. Most tunnels had inscriptions showing the names of patrons who ordered construction and sometimes the name of the architect. For example, the 1.4-kilometer Cevlik tunnel in Turkey, built to divert the floodwater threatening the harbor of the ancient city of Seleuceia Pieria, had inscriptions on the entrance, still visible today, that also indicate that the tunnel was started in 69 CE and was completed in 81 CE.
Questions 1 - 3
Label the diagram below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
1 2 3 |
4 5 6 |
Question (7)
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
7
The counter-excavation method completely replaced the qanat method in the 6th century BCE.
8
Only experienced builders were employed to construct a tunnel using the counter-excavation method.
9
The information about a problem that occurred during the construction of the Saldae aqueduct system was found in an ancient book.
10
The mistake made by the builders of the Saldae aqueduct system was that the two parts of the tunnel failed to meet.
Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.
What type of mineral were the Dolaucothi mines in Wales built to extract?
11
In addition to the patron, whose name might be carved onto a tunnel?
12
What part of Seleuceia Pieria was the Qevlik tunnel built to protect?
13
Question (14)
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
What is the writer’s main point in the first paragraph?
- A
- B
- C
- D
What main point does Sherry Turkle make about innovation?
- A
- B
- C
- D
What point is the writer making in the fourth paragraph?
- A
- B
- C
- D
According to Mark Edmundson, the attitude of college students
- A
- B
- C
- D
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-H, below.
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet.
A | fast |
B | isolated |
C | emotional |
D | worrying |
E | many |
F | hard |
G | combined |
H | thorough |
Studies on digital screen use
There have been many studies on digital screen use, showing some
18
trends.
Psychologist Anne Mangen gave high-school students a short story to read, half using digital and half using print mediums. Her team then used a question-and-answer technique to find out how
19
each group’s understanding of the plot was.
The findings showed a clear pattern in the responses, with those who read screens finding the order of information
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to recall.
Studies by Ziming Liu show that students are tending to read
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words and phrases in a text to save time.
This approach, she says, gives the reader a superficial understanding of the
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content of material, leaving no time for thought.
Question (23)
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage?
In boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
23
The medium we use to read can affect our choice of reading content.
24
Some age groups are more likely to lose their complex reading skills than others.
25
False information has become more widespread in today’s digital era.
26 We still have opportunities to rectify the problems that technology is presenting.
Reading Passage 3 has six sections, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i | An increasing divergence of attitudes towards AI |
ii | Reasons why we have more faith in human judgement than in AI |
iii | The superiority of AI projections over those made by humans |
iv | The process by which AI can help us make good decisions |
v | The advantages of involving users in AI processes |
vi | Widespread distrust of an AI innovation |
vii | Encouraging openness about how AI functions |
viii | A surprisingly successful AI application |
Section A
27
Section B 28
Section C 29
Section D
30
Section E
31
Section F
32
Question (33)
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
What is the writer doing in Section A?
- A
- B
- C
- D
According to Section C, why might some people be reluctant to accept Al?
- A
- B
- C
- D
What does the writer say about the media in Section C of the text?
- A
- B
- C
- D
Question (36)
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage?
In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
36
Subjective depictions of Al in sci-fi films make people change their opinions about automation.
37
Portrayals of Al in media and entertainment are likely to become more positive.
38
Rejection of the possibilities of Al may have a negative effect on many people’s lives.
39
Familiarity with Al has very little impact on people’s attitudes to the technology.
40
Al applications which users are able to modify are more likely to gain consumer approval.