ACA FLEX Reading 14-10

Birds have long played a central role in superstitions. However, the role birds have played varies greatly. While crows were thought to be in league with the devil, blue birds were usually considered signs of good fortune. Blue Jays, in contrast, were seldom assigned a positive role in superstition and legend. Most of the time, they were considered companions to the devil. According to one ancient superstition, blue jays were never seen on Fridays. Friday was their day to meet with the devil and pass on any useful gossip about souls who might be ready to go astray. Owls, in contrast, have played a number of different roles, some good, some bad. In several superstitions they are portrayed as wise counselors; in others, they are a sign that death is near.

• ADespite having the same color, blue jays and bluebirds have played very different roles in superstitions.
• BBirds turn up frequently in superstitions as signs of both good and evil.
• CHardly a superstition exists that doesn't have a bird in it.

Researchers suggest that there are creatures that do not know what light means at the bottom of the sea. They don't have either eyes or ears; they can only feel. There is no day or night for them. There are no winters, no summers, no sun, no moon, and no stars. It is as if a child spent its life in darkness in bed, with nothing to see or hear. How different our own life is! Sight shows us the ground beneath our feet and the heavens above us - the sun, moon, and stars, shooting stars, lightning, and the sunset. It shows us day and night. We are able to hear voices, the sound of the sea, and music. We feel we taste, we smell. How fortunate we are!

• Alife of sea creatures at the bottom of the sea
• Bhow changes in the seasons are perceived by the deep-sea creatures
• Chow wonderful our lives were and will be
• Dthe differences among creatures of the earth and those of the sea
• Ethe superiority of human beings over some creatures in terms of senses

Organisations need to integrate their sales activities more both internally and with customers' needs according to a new book co-authored by an academic at the University of East Anglia. The book ________ (3) how sales can help organisations to become more customer oriented and considers how they are responding to challenges such as increasing competition, more ________ (4) customers and a more complex selling environment. Many organisations are facing escalating costs and a growth in customer power, ________ (5) makes it necessary to allocate resources more strategically. The sales function can provide critical customer and market knowledge to help inform both innovation and marketing. However, the authors say that within the industry ________ (6) is still uncertainty about the shape a future sales team should take, how it should be managed, and how it ________ (7) into their organisations business model.

Many different types of bar code scanning machines exist, but they all work on the same fundamental principles. They all use the ________ (8) of light reflected from a series of black and white stripes to tell a computer what code it is ________ (9). White stripes reflect light very well, while black stripes reflect hardly any light at all. The bar code scanner shines light ________ (10) across a bar code, simultaneously detecting and recording the pattern of reflected and non-reflected light. The scanner then ________ (11) this pattern into an electrical signal that the computer can understand. All scanners must include computer software to interpret the bar code once it's been entered. This simple principle has transformed the way we are able to ________ (12) data and the way in which many businesses handle recordkeeping.

While accounting focuses on the day-to-day management of financial ________ (13) and records across the business world, finance uses this same information to project future growth and to ________ (14) expenditure in order to strategize company finances. By studying this major you get to have a better insight on the market, with the right ________ (15) and skills acquired you should be able then when you graduate to advise others in making strong investments. This major will help you gain responsibility of predicting and ________ (16) the potential for profit and growth, assessing monetary resources, utilizing accounting statistics and reports, and also looking externally for future funding options.

Alternative medicine is an alternative to something else: modern, Western medicine. But the term ‘alternative’ can be misleading, even off-putting for some people. Few practitioners of homeopathy, acupuncture, herbalism, and the like regard their therapies as complete substitutes for modern medicine. Rather, they consider their disciplines as supplementary to orthodox medicine. The problem is that many doctors refuse even to recognize ‘natural’ or alternative medicine, to do so calls for a radically different view of health, illness, and cure. But whatever doctors may think, the demand for alternative forms of medical therapy is stronger than ever before, as the limitations of modern medical science become more widely understood. Alternative therapies are often dismissed by orthodox medicine because they are sometimes administered by people with no formal medical training. But, in comparison with many traditional therapies, western medicine as we know it today is a very recent phenomenon. Until only 150 years ago, herbal medicine and simple inorganic compounds were the most effective treatments available. Despite the medical establishment’s intolerant attitude, alternative therapies are being accepted by more and more doctors, and the World Health Organization has agreed to promote the integration of proven, valuable, ‘alternative’ knowledge and skills in western medicine.

• AAlternative medicines are a substitute for modern medicine.
• BAlternative medicines were the most effective treatment in the past.
• CAlternative medicines are getting popularity nowadays.
• DAlternative medicines are now being accepted by more doctors.
• EAlternative medicines are generally administered by unqualified practitioners.
• FWho has an intolerant attitude towards alternative medicine.

Slavery is a system under which certain persons are totally deprived of personal freedom and compelled to perform labour or services. Although outlawed in nearly all countries, slavery is still practiced in some parts of the world. The evidence for slavery predates written records. It can be found in almost all cultures and continents. Historically, most slaves were captured in wars but some persons were sold into slavery by their parents, or by themselves, as a means of surviving extreme conditions. Ancient Warfare often resulted in slavery for prisoners and their families. Captives were often considered the property of those who captured them and were looked upon as a prize of war. Those captured sometimes differed in ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race from their enslavers, but often were the same as the captors. The dominant group in an area might take captives and turn them into slaves. The possibility always existed of reversals of fortune at the height of the Roman Empire, when powerful nations fought among themselves, anyone could find himself enslaved.

• Awas banned by international agreements between countries a long time ago
• Bmeant for some people surviving the conditions they had to endure
• Cis a practice which can be seen in many places in the world today
• Dwas the most common in the Roman Empire
• Egoes back to ancient times

Wheat is one of most primitive types of food in the world. Its discovery contributed to the development of Homo-sapiens from hunters to farmers. Civilization arose where soil was fertile and wheat could be produced. The Stone Age farmers in the Middle East 9000 years ago were perhaps the first to cultivate cereal grams, such as wheat and barley. They also developed bread wheat from a cross of wild wheat and grasses. Studies on Neolithic women in Syria highlight damage to their toes, knees and vertebrate as they had to spend long hours kneeling before saddle shaped stones to crush grains. The finding that grain could be grounded to make a powder called a meal must have been fantastic because raw wheat is distasteful. This powder called meal was used to make porridge or gruel until baking was discovered. The baked flour was more enjoyable and tasty. Sieve or baskets were made using horse hair or papyrus to separate the ground meal into coarse bran particles and white flour. Later ancient Romans crushed the grain and sifted the flour through linen, twice. This was an expensive procedure that only the aristocracy could afford. The white flour obtained was called “pollen” meaning a fine powder. The Romans were the pioneers in the birth of the milling industry using animals or slaves to drive the wheels to grind wheat. It was only in the 11th century that water and wind mills appeared to grind the wheat.

• AExtracting fine pollen from raw wheat used to be an expensive process.
• BDiscovery of wheat helped primitive societies to lead a nomadic life.
• CCrushing wheat with the help of saddle shaped stones used to be a difficult task for ancient women.
• DIn ancient Rome milling was always done with the help of slaves.
• EBaked wheat flour is tastier than porridge.

Australia Day is an official celebration that commemorates the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British Ships at Sydney Cove, New South Wales, and raising of the Flag of Great Britain at that site by Governor Arthur Phillip. It is celebrated annually on 26th January and is variously referred to as the Anniversary Day, Invasion Day, Foundation Day, and ANA (Australian Natives' Association) Day. Although it was not known as Australia Day until over a century later, records of celebrations on 26th January date back to 1808. A century later the celebration was officially recognized when in 1908 the British colonies of Australia formed a Federation, marking the birth of modern Australia. It was not until 1935 that all Australian states and territories had adopted use of the term Australia Day to mark the date, and not until 1994 that the date was consistently marked by a public holiday by all states and territories. Outdoor concerts, community barbecues, sports competitions, festivals, and fireworks are some of the many events presented in communities across Australia for this occasion. These official events are presented by the National Australia Day Council, an official council or committee in each state and territory, and local committees. The celebration is also marked by the announcement of the Australian of the Year Awards. This celebrates the achievements and contributions of eminent Australians, both young and old, in all fields from science to sport.

• AAn official celebration that is used to commemorate the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British Ships at Sydney Cove.
• BAnnual celebrations that marks the achievements of only the legends drawn from all fields from science to sport.
• CAnnual celebration that marks the first raising of the flag of Great Britain at Sydney Cove by Governor Arthur Phillip.
• DA public holiday that is marked by only the Australian states and not territories.
• EAn annual celebration that marks the birth of the modern Australia, after the formation of a Federation by Australia.