An expert (1) has completed a new study on Albert Einstein and she (2) will publish

it next month in a Journal on neurology. The study suggests that a uniquely shaped
brain (3) may have influenced Einstein’s extraordinary genius.
When anthropologist Dean Falk and her team made a comparison with 85 ‘normal’
human brains, (4) they found that Einstein’s brain possessed some remarkable
features.
The researchers were using 14 photos of the genius’s brain which people (5) had
only recently rediscovered. With permission from his family, scientists (6) removed
and photographed Einstein’s brain after his death in 1955.
The National Museum of Health and Medicine (7) hold the photographs but people
(8) had never fully investigated them before.
Collaborative task ISE III
There was a programme on television a while ago asking people to choose
a favourite period in history they would have liked to live in. I couldn’t
have disagreed more with some of their choices.

There’s a huge problem in my area concerning the organisation of rubbish

collection and disposal. We are supposed to be recycling more but at the
moment it doesn’t seem to be happening.

The Standard of Living in Switzerland

Switzerland is one of the world’s most expensive countries to live in – with Geneva
and Zurich frequently appearing as among the costliest cities in global comparison.
But pound for pound (or franc for franc) Swiss citizens still enjoy a very high
standard of living.
If disposable income is the benchmark for living standards, then Switzerland is the
third best placed country in Europe, according to the latest statistics. Only citizens
of Luxembourg and Norway enjoy more disposable income once differences in
prices and costs are stripped out.
The number crunchers work this out by devising a fictional standardised unit of
income, calculated by applying purchasing power parity to the median income in
each country.
“This means that despite the high price levels in Switzerland, the populations’
financial situation, after deduction of obligatory expenditure, was more comfortable
than that of its neighbouring countries and most countries in the European Union,”
the Swiss Federal Statistical Office said in a statement on Monday.
On the other side of the coin, the percentage of people living on or below the
poverty line in Switzerland has been steadily decreasing since record began in
2007. The proportion of the Swiss population living in extreme poverty (4.6%) is one
of the lowest in Europe (18.6% average). Some 9.7% of the Swiss population cannot
afford a week’s holiday abroad – the European average is 36.9%.

According to the first paragraph:

 Two cities in Switzerland are the most costly in the world.
 Swiss people pay too much for their services
 The cost of living in Switzerland is worth the money.

In the second paragraph, what is the meaning of “benchmark”

 a standard by which others may be measured or judged.
 something that produces an effect, result, or condition
 a change that results when something is done or happens

According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office,

 the financial situation in Switzerland is preferable due to the high
price levels.
 the high price levels have made the financial situation in
Switzerland less desirable
 although price levels are high, the financial situation is better in
Switzerland

The official statistics suggest that the percentage of people living.

 above the poverty line in Switzerland has been gradually growing
since 2007
 on or below the poverty line Switzerland has plummeted since 2007
 above the property line in Switzerland has barely risen since 2007

According to the sixth paragraph,

 9.3 of the Swiss population is equal to 530,000 people
 the poverty line in Switzerland has moved since 2007
 childless widows are assumed to earn less than a nuclear family