Admission Exam September 2015

English as a First Language 

Can you be too beautiful? It is hardly a problem that most of us have to contemplate – as much as we might like to dream that it were the case. Yet the blessings and curses of beauty have been a long-standing interest in psychology. Do those blessed with symmetrical features and a striking figure live in a cloud of appreciation – or does it sometimes pay to be plain?

Two social psychologists have reached conclusions that are not what you might expect. At the most superficial level, beauty might be thought to carry a kind of halo around it; we see that someone has one good attribute, and by association, our subconscious assumes that they have been blessed in other departments too. It’s one of many status characteristics that we can identify very early in our interactions.

To psychologists, this is called the “what is beautiful is good” principle, often known as “the bubble”. According to the available evidence, the bubble is a reality. In education, for instance, better looking students, at school and university, tend to be judged by teachers as being more competent and intelligent – and that was reflected in the grades they gave them.

In the workplace, your face really can be your fortune. More attractive people tend to earn more money and climb higher on the corporate ladder than people who are considered less pleasing on the eye. Even in the courts, beauty can work its magic. Attractive defendants are likely to get more lenient sentences, or to escape conviction entirely; attractive plaintiffs, meanwhile, are more likely to win their case and get bigger financial settlements.  

But if beauty pays in most circumstances, there are still situations where it can backfire. While attractive men may be considered better leaders, for instance, implicit sexist prejudices can work against attractive women, making them less likely to be hired for high-level jobs that require authority.

 Source: BBC, February 15, 2015

English as a second language:

Coca-Cola to drop controversial ingredient

 The world's largest beverage-maker, Coca-Cola, plans to remove a controversial ingredient from some of its drinks brands by the end of this year, following an online petition. Brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, is found in Coca-Cola fruit and sports drinks such as Fanta and Powerade. It will be replaced after concerns that an element of the additive is also found in chemicals used to prevent furniture fires.

 

Rival Pepsi removed the chemical from its Gatorade sports drink last year. A Pepsi spokesman said it also had wider plans to stop using BVO and had "been actively working to remove it from the rest of our product portfolio". Pepsi still uses the ingredient in its energy drinks.

 

Coca-Cola spokesman Josh Gold stressed that the move to remove BVO was not an issue of safety. "All of our beverages, including those with BVO, are safe and always have been - and comply with all regulations in the countries where they are sold," he said. "The safety and quality of our products is our highest priority."

 

According to medical researchers, excessive consumption of soft drinks containing BVO is linked to negative health effects, including memory loss and skin and nerve problems. However, drinks companies are allowed to use minimal quantities of BVO.

 

Coca-Cola's decision to remove BVO from its drink reflects a growing move among companies to reconsider certain practices due to public pressure. The campaign against the use of BVO was begun by Sarah Kavanagh, a teenager from Mississippi, who questioned why the ingredient was being used in drinks targeted at health-conscious athletes. Thousands of people have since signed her online petition to have BVO removed from drinks.

 Френски като първи език

Pourquoi la crise des migrants s'accélère maintenant

 

60% d'arrivées supplémentaires de migrants en Europe en 2015. Ils sont déjà plus de 351 000 à avoir pris le risque de traverser la Méditerranée cette année, contre 219 000 en 2014, selon l'Office international des migrations (OMI). Beaucoup ont péri en mer, comme le petit Aylan, l'enfant syrien dont la photo sur une plage turque a tant choqué, ou dans les épouvantables conditions de transport clandestin, à l'instar des 71 personnes retrouvées asphyxiées dans un camion en provenance de Hongrie. 

Les Syriens constituent le plus gros contingent de réfugiés qui tentent de rejoindre l'Europe cette année: près de 350 000 demandes d'asile ont été déposées depuis 2011. Mais ceux qui tentent de rejoindre l'Europe sont pourtant une petite minorité des déplacés. Plus de 4 millions de Syriens sont des réfugiés cette année, selon le HCR, auxquels s'ajoutent les déplacés à l'intérieur du pays. La Turquie, le Liban, la Jordanie accueillent à eux seuls plus de 3 millions de cette population, soit dix fois plus que le nombre de migrants arrivés cette année sur le sol européen.

Les exactions de Daech[1] ne suffisent pas à expliquer la hausse des départs. Les Syriens fuient aussi l'extrême violence provoquée par la riposte d'Assad au soulèvement de 2011. Le régime syrien est, selon de nombreuses ONG, responsable de la majeure partie des morts de civils dans le pays. « Les Syriens ont longtemps eu l'espoir que la crise dans leur pays ne serait pas durable, que le régime finirait par tomber, ouvrant la voie à une transition qui leur permettrait de rentrer chez eux, analyse Catherine de Wenden. Avec la montée en puissance du groupe État islamique (EI), la chute du régime syrien n'est plus la priorité des grandes puissances, et les Syriens ont le sentiment que le régime et donc l'instabilité vont durer ». La perspective d'une sortie de la guerre semble plus éloignée que jamais.

Ceux qui tentent de traverser la Méditerranée espèrent aussi en finir avec la vie dans les camps de réfugiés dans les pays voisins de la Syrie parce qu'ils rêvent d'une vie normale pour eux et leurs enfants. C'est ce qui explique le profil des migrants syriens, différent de celui des migrants en provenance d'Afrique. « Ce ne sont pas les plus pauvres. Ce sont des familles qui ont eu les moyens d'épargner pour payer les passeurs », ajoute Catherine de Wenden. Ils sont à la recherche d'un avenir meilleur pour leurs enfants, alors que les migrants africains sont en majorité de jeunes hommes.

D’apres lexpress.fr, publié le 04/09/2015

last change: Thursday 07/14/2016 03:45pm