Questions 22 to 29 are based on the, following passage.

1 When I was sent a copy of a recentl y published book, I`lanced at it briefly and 1 was convinced it , l 7, ! -/ ' . I immediately went into panic mode. )0 I (milk too titan some ghastly "well wisher" sent it to me as a big hint? If she had, I'd go and wring her neck. Did other people I know realise I'd been sent this book? Was there a big plot among my friends? 5 2 In fact , i t had been s ent t o m e by t he publi s her and it was cal l ed Women Who Think Too Much. But the overdrive I instantly went into is a perfect example of what Dr Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, the author, describes as one of the three types of overthinking: -chaotic overthink -,11c 1 )i1 }cap from an\ions-making topic to ii;. ' 1 ; ; J `Rt" !',. About 111V health, to paranoid 10 r ~ or ry he t h er I ha d s om e ho rr i b l e fi en d, t o f ur y, t hi nki ng a bo ut wh at I' d do to this friend, to imagining the whole world was against me. All in the space of about a minute. 3 The second type is "rant-and-rai e overthinkine, when some , ,li g ht prev s oil our mind and W e u ps et, 1 ,..-ill do or say to 1
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so revolting, and , 1 until ) ou have 1i aL,Ined yourself livinu walls in a cardboard box. 4 Obviously, thinking deeply about a problem is not overthinking. nor is wocr\ about something that everyone should worry about. The other day, when my French lodger disappeared for two nights, I was right to worry about her. What I was not right to do (which I did) was to sit crying, imagining her in a concrete basement, 25 having been abducted by a group of thugs who were repeatedly' raping her. 5 Dr Nolen-Hoeksema quotes research in her book that indicates two remarkable things about overthinking. One is that we overthink more than we Used to. Peo,,,le over the age of 65 don't overthink nearly as much as v ounU people. partly. she sa` s. because there weren't so many choices available to them in their youth. Accorclin 30 to Dr Nolen-Hoeksema, there wasn't so much time for overthinking 60 rears a`_,0 either people were often more preoccupied with the \Var. housework or po ert\ . Overthinking seems to be a horrible side-effect of affluence and, she sa y s. it's easier to overthink when you live in a culture of blame, with an unrealistic belief that there can be justice in our lives. 35 6 Th e s ec on d as s e rt i o n s h e m ak es i s t h at w om en ov er t h i n k f ar m o re t h an m e n. We do this, apparently, because we used to be second-Mass citizens and some women still feel they are worth less than men. ScheminLi. ruminating over whether it is "our fault", victim-like behaviour such as deviousness and manipulativeness are all signs of a class that's squashed down and even though lots of us aren't 40 squashed down any more, we still retain the old characteristics. 7 People who overthink seem to find everything more upsetting from big things like bereavement to small things like being slighted. People who don't, tend to get over things quicker and feel more positive and enthusiastic. It may be that, after all. there's some sense to that old phrase: "Just don't think about it." (Adapted from TimesOnline, December 6. 2003. tfaf 1 es anl ii l ;$rcorl ~ ea it i
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Questions 30 to 37 are based on the following passage.

1 Most people think they have a book in them. Perhaps the creative urge is timeless. But the way we think about writing is distinctively moderns. The idea that everyone can write and has something to say owes a lot to the democratisation of culture in the 20th century as well as the advent of mass literacy in the 19th century. And

writers' groups and writing courses as we know them grew out of particular ways 5 of forming organisations and doing business in the early 20th century. 2 Some aspiring writers' papers and diaries found their way into public archives. Others left intermittent paper trails through publishers' archives, the records of the BBC and the British Art Council, and the correspondence files of established authors whom they asked for help and advice. 10

3 It is also possible to gain access to the worlds of aspiring and amateur writers by researching several key movements and moments that drew ordinary people into imaginative writing. One of these was the amateur writers' movement that centred on writing magazines, textbooks, correspondence schools and writers' clubs. Another was the boom in do-it-yourself magazines and writers' groups 15 among soldiers and civilians during World War II. A handful of examples from the war years will bring out some of the variety of ordinary people's writings. and the different things that writing meant to them. 4 Seeing a film in Karachi one night, a navy gunner was ov er helmed b y memories: "My constant thoughts were of my wife, still patiently waiting my return. I came back and wrote this poem." Popular conceptions of poetry in artime were overwhelmingly romantic: great poetry was supposed to issue from powerful feelings and experiences. The converse is not necessarily true. However, for many people it made sense to think that writing poetry was a suitable response to war experiences and difficult emotions. 25

5 G.T. Harris had a different literary war. His time as an office worker and driver in the Royal Air Force (RAF) gave him the chance to develop his skills at writing adventure stories. Harris wrote in his diary of the magnitude of the tasks facing him and complained about disturbances. But the diary also shows the opportunities his RAF work and accommodation brought him. His diary entry for September 30 1941, neatly captures this combination: "I sit in the office writings my quota of the novel, a task that is frequently interrupted by the phoT e bell ringing.6 Harris was a dedicated if unsuccessful writer, and he used his diary as writing practice. "About seven thirty I go to supper. The moon shines from a star studded sky.... The hangars surmounted by balls of red tw inkling light are silhouetted 35 sharply against a blue-black sky." After a while the diary became too much. Harris wrote one day while in transit: "It can get wearisome describing the early summer beauty. There is little to compare between Devonshire. Somerset, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, the counties through which our ro~tt,t 7
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imagination: `I see a chance to do some writing for once. I have been for too long just a Mum and the verses I wrote in the shelter to distract the children have a new significance." When the concert was performed in Au g ust 1943, she felt "a little 45 shiver of pride. But when eventually the applause dies down and we return home. Cyril tells me that I must now get used to being plain Mrs Byers again." Irene as asked to write and organise another concert, but "Cyril puts his foot down firmly and says enough is enough". 800/3/D (Adapted from The Australian, March 14, 2007) (
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