Questions 15-27

Instructions to follow

• You are advised to spend 20 minutes on Questions 15 – 27.
• Read the text below and answer the questions 15 – 20

The Murgatroyde Corporation Employee Manual

Chapter 8: Professional Development Requirements

All employees of the Murgatroyde Corporation are required to attend fifteen hours of professional development workshops or classes in each calendar year. While there are many opportunities provided by the company, professional development hours can also be earned externally at local training centers, colleges, and other locations.

Listings of upcoming professional development opportunities offered by the company are posted on the company website and updated frequently. Employees can register for these workshops online. Before signing up for a particular workshop, employees should check with their supervisors to make sure they can be excused from their duties on the date of the workshop.

Employees who wish to receive professional development credit for attending workshops or courses offered elsewhere should provide their supervisor with materials describing the opportunity. The supervisor will determine whether the workshop or course is pertinent to the employee’s work. After obtaining the supervisor’s approval, the employee can apply to the Human Resources Office for tuition reimbursement if tuition is to be paid.

Employees attending any workshop offered by the company will receive a certificate of attendance. The number of professional development hours earned will be reported to theHuman Resources Office by the workshop organizer. In order to receive professional development credit for a course or workshop offered outside the company, the employee must have the workshop organizer complete a company Proof of Attendance form, and the employee must then submit the form to the Human Resources Office within one month of the end date of the course. Timely submission of this form is required in order for credit to be granted. There will be no exceptions.

Questions 15-20

Instructions to follow

• Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer

• Write your answers on lines 15 – 20 on your answer sheet.

15. Employees can choose from professional development workshops and classes offered___________or at local training centers or colleges.

16. Employees can find out which workshops will be offered by looking a_____________

17. It is the responsibility of____________to decide whether a workshop is relevant.

18. Employees who need help paying for a class or workshop can ask the Human Resources Office for_________________.

19. The workshop presenter will let the Human Resources Office know how many_____________the employee should be credited with.

20. Professional development credit will be granted for workshops taken outside of the company if a special form is filled out by__________.

Instructions to follow

• Read the text below and answer Questions 21—27.

Hamp ford College

Work-Study Program

Certain students at Hampford College may be eligible for the college Work—Study Program. To determine eligibility and to apply for the program, read the information below.

• The Hampford College Work—Study Program is open to all full-time Hampford College students, regardless of the particular study program in which they are enrolled. The program is not open to part-time students. Information on financial support programs for part-time students is available in the Counseling Center.

• Before applying for a work—study position, the student must demonstrate financial need. To do this, complete the Statement of Financial Need Form, available in the Counseling Center.

• To apply for a work-study position,submit a letter of interest to the Work-Study Program Office, describing your skills and interests. You may also, but are not required to, submit a resume describing any previous jobs you may have held. Students both with and without an employment history are eligible for the program.

• Once you have been approved for the program, look at the help-wanted ads posted on the Counseling Center website. All of the jobs are located at the college. You may apply for any job that you are interested in. Please note that job placement is subject to job availability. While we make every effort to place all Work-Study Program students in a job, there are no guarantees.

• All work-study students must be students in good standing at the college; that is, they must receive passing grades in all their courses in order to continue in the program the following semesters.

• Work-study positions are generally for one year. Students wishing to continue in the program after one year must re submit their applications.

Questions 21-27

Instructions to follow

• Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text about the
• Hampford College Work-Study Program? On lines 21-27 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

 21. The Work—Study Program is available to all students at the college.

 22. Work-study students must prove that they require monetary support.

 23. Work-study students must choose a job that is related to their study program.

 24. Previous work experience is required to participate in the Work-Study Program.

 25. All students in the Work-Study Program will be given a job.

 26. Work-study students cannot stay in the program if they receive failing grades.

 27. Work-study students have to apply for the program every year.

Thin-film solar power

The modernist box that won this year’s Solar Decathlon, a contest for solar-powered houses sponsored by America’s Department of Energy, had solar panels of the conventional, crystalline sort on its roof. But the walls were covered in solar cells made with thin coatings of silicon and other materials in the place of expensive slices of crystal. Thin film, as this technology is known, is still less popular than crystalline cells and its move to the mainstream has been a year or two away for a decade. But its time may have come at last.

There are many exotic ideas involving thin film, from the solar shingles recently unveiled by Dow, a big chemical company, a roof’s worth costs $27,000, to experimental prototypes of power generating clothes, roads and cars.However, most thin film comes in the form of panels that resemble talline ones. They are roughly half as efficient, meaning that a panel must be twice as big to generate the same amount of power, but a third cheaper, watt for watt. So in places where there is no shortage of space, they are the natural option.

Thin-film cells are also more versatile, since they can be mounted on a variety of materials including flexible plastics and fabrics. Like all solar cells, they are becoming more efficient: the decathletes of Team Germany, who designed the winning house, bragged that its north facade was covered in panels that could convert even indirect sunlight into electricity. Over the past year or so, thanks to a crash in demand tied to the recession and falling subsidies in big markets, the price of crystalline panels has fallen by 30-40%, undermining thin film’s relative advantage. Nonetheless, thin film’sshare of the market has continued to rise: it is now almost half, compared with just 10% in 2004. The biggest force in the industry is a firm called First Solar, based in Arizona, a sunny American state. Like that of virtually all alternative-energy firms, its share price has suffered in the recession. But it has nonetheless performed considerably better than Standard & Poor’s clean-energy index over the past three years. Its gross margins in the first half of the year were over 50%, on sales of S944m. This month the firm was added to the S&P 500 stock market index of America’s biggest firms.

First solar lookslikely to continue to grow. Last month itsigned a memorandum of understanding with China to install two gigawatts’ worth of panels in Inner Mongolia-a place with plenty of space. That is enough to power 3 million homes. Installation is due to begin next year and finish in 2019. That and other projects should consume all its output for several years to come. First Solar’s rivals are much smaller. But technological advances may yet catapult one to the fore, says Steve Milunovich, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. First Solar makes its cells from a chemical called cadmium telluride. But firms such as Nanosolar, which is building factories in California and Germany, believe that a combination of copper, indium, gallium and selenium known as CIGS will prove cheaper to produce on a mass scale

Researchers at the University of California, meanwhile, hold out great hopes for cells made of organic chemicals. At the moment, however, the cheapest form of solar power is none of these, but the less glamorous solar-thermal power, which involves heating water with sunlight to make steam. Utilities are also keen to use lensesto increase the amount of sunlight hitting solar panels a technique known as concentrating solar power. They still need subsidies or a high price on carbon emissionsto make investmentsin any sort of solar power profitable. But the gap between solar and conventional power sources is becoming, well, thinner.

Questions 28-33

Instructions to follow

• Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text?
• TRUE  if the statement agrees with the information
• FALSE  if the statement contradicts the information
• NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

28. At this year’s Solar Decathlon, ‘thin film’ covered the roof of the modernist box

29. When space is not a problem, it’s probably better to use crystalline films.

30. Team Germany’s house won because of its ability to turn indirect sunlight into electricity.

31. The price reduction of crystalline films has prevented thin films from gaining market share.

32. In the last three years, First Solar’s share price has increased more than Standard & Poor’s clean energy index

 33. First Solar is not yet listed on the S&P 500.

Questions 34 – 40

Instructions to follow

• Complete the summary below.
• Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

 34. Based on its contract with China, it seems probable that First Solar will________________further.

 35. However, it does face competition from several sources. First, there are a number of____________. using the potentially

 36. _______________________CIGS production process. In addition,

 37. _______________________power, though perhaps not as 38. as the alternatives is still the cheapest.

 39. And despite a narrowing ______________solar’s biggest competitor is still 40._____________