ACA FLEX Reading 16-10

When learners can act from their most vital selves, their curiosity emerges. They want to make sense of things and seek out challenges that are in their range of capacities and values. This leads to what human beings experience as interest, the emotional nutrient for a continuing positive attitude toward learning. When we feel interested, we have to make choices about what to do to follow that interest. Such choosing or self-determination involves a sense of feeling free in doing what one has chosen to do (Deci and Ryan, 1991). For the process of learning-thinking, practicing, reading, revising, studying, and other similar activities-to be desirable and genuinely enjoyable, adults must see themselves as personally endorsing their own learning.

• AIn order for adults to endorse their own learning, they must follow the steps of the learning process.
• BA positive attitude toward learning is interesting to adults.
• CInterest is a challenge that learners seek out.
• DInterest is a result of learners being genuinely curious.

Caffeine is a natural ingredient in coffee, cocoa, tea, and chocolate, and is added to some prescription and non-prescription drugs. 2. Despite being "natural," Caffeine is also a powerful drug which greatly affects the body. 3. In healthy, rested people, a dose of 100 milligrams (about one cup of coffee) increases alertness, banishes drowsiness, quickens reaction time, it enhances intellectual and muscular effort, and increases heart and respiratory rates. 4. Drinking one to two cups of coffee an hour before exercise encourages the body to preserve glycogen and burn fat —something that results in greater endurance. 5. In addition, caffeine masks fatigue. 6. In doses above 300 milligrams, caffeine can produce sleeplessness, nervousness, irritability, headaches, heart palpitations, and muscle twitches. 7. Caffeine is also habit-forming, and those who try to suddenly stop after heavy use may experience such withdrawal symptoms as headaches, lethargy, irritability, and difficulty in concentrating.

• ACaffeine is a powerful drug that affects the body in numerous ways.
• BCaffeine is good to drink before working out.
• CCaffeine is linked to various health concerns.
• DCaffeine is a strong drug that only enhances the body when used.

Bones also protect the organs in our bodies. The skull protects the brain and forms the shape of the face. The spinal cord, a pathway for messages between the brain and the body, is protected by the backbone, or spinal column. The ribs form a cage that shelters ________ (3) heart and lungs, and the pelvis helps protect the bladder, part of the intestines, and in women, the reproductive organs. Bones are made up of a framework of a protein called collagen , with a mineral called calcium phosphate that makes the framework hard and strong. Bones store calcium and release some into the bloodstream when it's needed by other parts of the body. The amounts of certain vitamins and minerals that you eat, especially vitamin D and calcium, directly affect how much calcium is stored in the bones. Joints are where ________ (4) bones meet. They make the skeleton flexible — without them, movement would be impossible. Joints allow our bodies to move in many ways. Some joints open and close like a hinge (such as knees and elbows), whereas others allow for more complicated movement — a shoulder or hip joint, for example, allows for backward, forward, sideways, and rotating movement. Joints are classified by their range of movement: Immovable, or fibrous, joints don't move. The dome of the skull, for example, is made of bony plates, which move slightly during birth and then fuse together as the skull finishes growing. Between the edges of these plates are links, or joints, of fibrous tissue. Fibrous joints also hold the teeth in the jawbone. Partially movable, or cartilaginous, joints move a little. They are linked by cartilage, as in the spine. Each of the vertebrae in the spine moves in relation to the one above and below it, and together these movements give the spine its flexibility. Freely movable, or synovial (pronounced: sih-NO-vee-ul), joints move in many directions. The ________ (5) joints of the body — such as those found at the hip, shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles — are freely movable. They are filled with synovial fluid, which acts as a lubricant to help the joints move easily. ________ (6) kinds of freely movable joints play a big part in voluntary movement: Hinge joints allow movement in one direction, as seen in the knees and elbows. Pivot joints allow a rotating or twisting motion, like that of the head moving from side to side. Ball-and-socket joints allow the greatest freedom ________ (7) movement. The hips and shoulders have this type of joint, in which the round end of a long bone fits into the hollow of another bone.

Bamboo is a favoured plant among architects and designers because of its incredible strength and durability. One Colombian architect ________ (8) to it as nature's steel, but in many respects it is even better than steel: it is lighter and more flexible, and these ________ (9) make it the ideal building material in areas that suffer earthquakes and severe weather patterns. Construction workers in places such as Hong Kong rely on bamboo scaffolding whatever the ________ (10) of the tower block they may be working on: over a billion people around the world live in a home that is made of bamboo; and China has ________ (11) the plant for thousands of years. The only drawback to this remarkable product is the cost of transporting it. So for those ________ (12) live in cooler regions of the world, the enormous advantages of this natural building material are less accessible.

Keith Haring began as an underground artist, literally. His first famous projects were pieces of stylized graffiti ________ (13) in New York subway stations. Haring travelled from station to station, drawing with chalk and chatting with commuters about his work. These doodles helped him develop his classic style and he grew so ________ (14), doing up to 40 drawings a day, that it was not long before fame and a measure of fortune followed. Soon, galleries and collectors from the art establishment wanted to buy full-sized pieces by Haring. The paintings skyrocketed in price but this did not sit well with Haring's philosophy. He believed that art, or ________ (15) his art, was for everyone. Soon, Haring opened a store which he called the Pop Shop, which he hoped would attract a broad range of people. While somewhat controversial among street artists, some of ________ (16) accused Haring of 'selling out', the Pop Shop changed the way people thought about the relationship between art and business.

Offshore Drilling: There are other environmental problems connected with offshore oil, besides oil pollution, many of them are routine part of operations. In drilling an offshore well, operators customarily discard overboard their drill cuttings with some un-separated drilling mud (which is not actually mud but a combination of clay and chemicals). A typical 15,000-foot well usually produces more than 1,000 tons of drill cuttings. In addition, mineral salts, which may have distinctly harmful effects on some forms of marine life, are released from geological formations and are regularly discharged after treatment in the course of production. Localized short-term impacts have been detected as a result of these discharges. Routine discharges like these, together with chronic low- level oil leaks, present “considerable environmental risk,” the Council on Environmental Quality concluded in its report on OCS oil and gas. Offshore Oil Sourcing: Digging channels for service ships and barges, building docks and other structures at the waterfront, and, to a lesser extent, laying pipeline cause another kind of environmental disruption. Instead of poisoning marine creatures, these activities tend to bury them, choke them, or cut off the light, which is essential to their whole food chain. Most importantly, dredging and filling change drainage patterns of estuaries and wetlands and can lead to erosion or saltwater intrusion. Increased salinity of the water in marshes and estuaries is usually damaging to the young fish, shellfish, and other organisms residing there. They may not be able to tolerate the higher salinity or they may be decimated by invading predators with an affinity for saltier waters.

• AOffshore oil drilling invites serious environmental problems.
• BAn offshore oil well may not pose as much danger to the environment once it becomes completely operational.
• CWhile some species may suffer due to higher salinity levels, the situation may be a boon to some others.
• DOffshore oil drilling can have disastrous impact on the marine food chain.
• EPipelines laid to carry gas or oil from the offshore wells are more disastrous than the huge structures erected at the waterfront.

Examinations: Despite all the new thinking, there is still no acceptable alternative to the examination. Whether it be at the end of term, or the year, or at the end of a school course or for the purpose of choosing candidates for a course of study and training, the only practicable way of measuring a student’s performance or of assessing his potential is by an examination, supplemented where necessary, by recommendation, interview and other devices. Means to Pass: The most unfortunate by-product of the examination system has been the proliferation of study notes, guides to passing examination, model answers, hints for writing essays and similar travesties of education. There is no need to engage on the unethical nature of these publications. From the student’s point of view a rigorous censorship of this kind of publication would be a great advantage. For one thing these ‘notes’ promote the habit of rote learning. For the other, they are priced more highly than the poems of Wordsworth or the plays of Shakespeare, although they are not worth the paper they are printed on. The sooner we find a way to dispense with these, the better it is for the student community and the system at large.

• AExaminations are meant to analyse the process of learning.
• BThere are serious problems in assessing a student’s progress through examinations.
• CThe study notes and guides hinder the true process of study.
• DExaminations recognize a student’s difficulties and overcome them.
• EThere are no alternatives, better or worse, to the examination system.

What is technology? Etymologically the term technology comes from the combination of these two Greek morphemes tékhnē, (meaning “art”) and -logía (meaning “study”). It refers to the collection of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistoric discovery of how to control fire and the later Agricultural Revolution increased the available sources of food. Likewise, the invention of the wheel helped humans to travel in and control their environment. Later developments in historic times, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. The steady progress of military technology has brought weapons of ever-increasing destructive power. The Greeks view about technology: Technology has been a subject of discussion in philosophy since the Greeks. The Greek philosopher Democritus, for example, believed that technology is an imitation of nature. House-building and weaving were first invented by imitating swallows and spiders building their nests and nets, respectively. Aristotle also distinguishes between natural things and artefacts. According to Aristotle, the former has their principles of generation and motion inside, whereas the latter, insofar as they are artefacts, are generated only by outward causes. For example, animals, which are natural things, can grow, move, and reproduce. A wooden bed, which is an artefact made by a human, cannot move, grow, or reproduce itself. Contemporary view about technology: Today, technology is a subject of debate because it is considered to be a double-edged sword. While it has helped humanity in extending its potential with outstanding inventions, it is nonetheless threatening humankind through some other destructive ones. In addition to polluting the earth in unprecedented ways, wars have become more and more devastating due to technological inventions. Ethical dimensions of recent technological developments, such as DNA engineering, have become a focal point of questioning and discussion. Philosophical debates have arisen over the use of technology, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it.

• AThe first use of technology by human species was identified when simple tools were converted into natural resources.
• BIt is the collection of techniques, methods, skills, and processes that are used in production of goods and services.
• CThe Greeks do not believe in technology as an imitation of nature.
• DThe contemporary society view technology as a double-edged sword.
• EThe philosophical debates arise over the use of technology; however, there is only a universal agreement that technology improves the human conditions.
• FWeapons of ever-increasing destructive power have been brought about by unsteady progress of the military technology.

Robots: The word 'robot' was first used to denote a fictional humanoid in a 1920 play R.U.R. by the Czech writer, Karel Čapek but it was Karel's brother Josef Čapek who was the word's true inventor. The branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots, as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing is robotics. Using robots: In general robots can be autonomous or semi-autonomous and are now used in different fields. They have replaced humans in performing repetitive and dangerous tasks which humans prefer not to do, or are unable to do because of size limitations, or which take place in extreme environments such as outer space or the bottom of the sea. For instance, robots can now be used in industry, as in car manufacturing, or they can be used in homes to do the housework. Some robots may respond to speech or be even medical operating tools. New functionalities: In 2008, Caterpillar Inc. developed a dump truck which can drive itself without any human operator. Many analysts believe that self-driving trucks may eventually revolutionize logistics. By 2014, Caterpillar had a self-driving dump truck which is expected to greatly change the process of mining. In 2015. Some analysts believe that within the next few decades, most trucks will be self-driving. A literate or 'reading robot' named Marge has intelligence that comes from software. She can read newspapers, find and correct misspelled words, learn about banks like Barclays, and understand that some restaurants are better places to eat than others. Baxter is a new robot which is different from other industrial robots because it can learn. A worker could teach Baxter how to perform a task by moving its hands in the desired motion and having Baxter memorize them. Extra dials, buttons, and controls are available on Baxter's arm for more precision and features. Any regular worker could program Baxter and it only takes a matter of minutes, unlike usual industrial robots that take extensive programs and coding in order to be used. This means Baxter needs no programming in order to operate. No software engineers are needed. This also means Baxter can be taught to perform multiple, more complicated tasks.

• ARobots have been developed to respond to speech and various medical operating tools.
• BThe development of a dump truck that can drive itself without human operator.
• CLiterate robot that has intelligence originating from software.
• DDevelopment of a robot that can learn, known as Marge.
• EA robot that can learn but do not require software engineers; thus, it can be taught to perform multiple and more complicated tasks.
• FA robot that does not have extra dials, buttons, and controls on its arms for more precision and features.