Writing Test 2...

Passage 1 is adapted from Michael Slezak, "Space Mining:
the Next Gold Rush?" 2013 by New Scientist. Passage 2 is
from the editors of New Scientist, Taming the Final
Frontier." 2013 by New Scientist.
          Passage 1
          Follow the money and you will end up in space.
          That's the message from a first-of-its-kind forum on
          mining beyond Earth.
Line      Convened in Sydney by the Australian Centre for
  5       Space Engineering Research, the event brought
          together mining companies, robotics experts, lunar
          scientists, and government agencies that are all
          working to make space mining a reality.
          The forum comes hot on the heels of the
  10      2012 unveiling of two private asteroid-mining firms.
          Planetary Resources of Washington says it will
          launch its first prospecting telescopes in two years,
          while Deep Space Industries of Virginia hopes to be
          harvesting metals from asteroids by 2020. Another
  15      commercial venture that sprung up in 2012,
          Golden Spike of Colorado, will be offering trips to
          the moon, including to potential lunar miners.
          Within a few decades, these firms may be
          meeting earthly demands for precious metals, such as
  20      platinum and gold, and the rare earth elements vital
          for personal electronics, such as yttrium and
          lanthanum. But like the gold rush pioneers who
          transformed the western United States, the first space
          miners won't just enrich themselves. They also hope
  25      to build an off-planet economy free of any bonds
          with Earth, in which the materials extracted and
          processed from the moon and asteroids are delivered
          for space-based projects.
          In this scenario, water mined from other
  30      worlds could become the most desired commodity.
          "In the desert, whats worth more: a kilogram of gold
          or a kilogram of water?" asks Kris Zacny of
          HoneyBee Robotics in New York. "Gold is useless.
          Water will let you live."
  35      Water ice from the moons poles could be sent to
          astronauts on the International Space Station for
          drinking or as a radiation shield. Splitting water into
          oxygen and hydrogen makes spacecraft fuel, so
          ice-rich asteroids could become interplanetary
  40      refuelling stations.
          Companies are eyeing the iron, silicon, and
          aluminium in lunar soil and asteroids, which could
          be used in 3D printers to make spare parts or
          machinery. Others want to turn space dirt into
  45      concrete for landing pads, shelters, and roads.

          Passage 2
          The motivation for deep-space travel is shifting
          from discovery to economics. The past year has seen
          a flurry of proposals aimed at bringing celestial riches
          down to Earth. No doubt this will make a few
  50      billionaires even wealthier, but we all stand to gain:
          the mineral bounty and spin-off technologies could
          enrich us all.
          But before the miners start firing up their rockets,
          we should pause for thought. At first glance, space
  55      mining seems to sidestep most environmental
          concerns: there is (probably!) no life on asteroids,
          and thus no habitats to trash. But its consequences
          --both here on Earth and in space--merit careful
          consideration.
  60      Part of this is about principles. Some will argue
          that space's "magnificent desolation" is not ours to
          despoil, just as they argue that our own planets poles
          should remain pristine. Others will suggest that
          glutting ourselves on spaces riches is not an
  65      acceptable alternative to developing more sustainable
          ways of earthly life.
          History suggests that those will be hard lines to
          hold, and it may be difficult to persuade the public
          that such barren environments are worth preserving.
  70      After all, they exist in vast abundance, and even
          fewer people will experience them than have walked
          through Antarctica's icy landscapes.
          There's also the emerging off-world economy to
          consider. The resources that are valuable in orbit and
  75      beyond may be very different to those we prize on
          Earth. Questions of their stewardship have barely
          been broached--and the relevant legal and regulatory
          framework is fragmentary, to put it mildly.
          Space miners, like their earthly counterparts, are
  80      often reluctant to engage with such questions.
          One speaker at last weeks space-mining forum in
          Sydney, Australia, concluded with a plea that
          regulation should be avoided. But miners have much
          to gain from a broad agreement on the for-profit
  85      exploitation of space. Without consensus, claims will
          be disputed, investments risky, and the gains made
          insecure. It is in all of our long-term interests to seek
          one out.

This passage is adapted from Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas.
1938 by Harcourt, Inc. Here, Woolf considers the situation
of women in English society.
          Close at hand is a bridge over the River Thames,
          an admirable vantage ground for us to make a
          survey. The river flows beneath; barges pass, laden
Line      with timber, bursting with corn; there on one side are
  5       the domes and spires of the city; on the other,
          Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. It is a
          place to stand on by the hour, dreaming. But not
          now. Now we are pressed for time. Now we are here
          to consider facts; now we must fix our eyes upon the
  10      procession--the procession of the sons of educated
          men.
          There they go, our brothers who have been
          educated at public schools and universities,
          mounting those steps, passing in and out of those
  15      doors, ascending those pulpits, preaching, teaching,
          administering justice, practising medicine,
          transacting business, making money. It is a solemn
          sight always--a procession, like a caravanserai
          crossing a desert. . . . But now, for the past twenty
  20      years or so, it is no longer a sight merely, a
          photograph, or fresco scrawled upon the walls of
          time, at which we can look with merely an esthetic
          appreciation. For there, trapesing along at the tail
          end of the procession, we go ourselves. And that
  25      makes a difference. We who have looked so long at
          the pageant in books, or from a curtained window
          watched educated men leaving the house at about
          nine-thirty to go to an office, returning to the house
          at about six-thirty from an office, need look passively
  30      no longer. We too can leave the house, can mount
          those steps, pass in and out of those doors, . . . make
          money, administer justice. . . . We who now agitate
          these humble pens may in another century or two
          speak from a pulpit. Nobody will dare contradict us
  35      then; we shall be the mouthpieces of the divine
          spirit--a solemn thought, is it not? Who can say
          whether, as time goes on, we may not dress in
          military uniform, with gold lace on our breasts,
          swords at our sides, and something like the old
  40      family coal-scuttle on our heads, save that that
          venerable object was never decorated with plumes of
          white horsehair. You laugh--indeed the shadow of
          the private house still makes those dresses look a
          little queer. We have worn private clothes so
  45      long. . . . But we have not come here to laugh, or to
          talk of fashions--men's and womens. We are here,
          on the bridge, to ask ourselves certain questions.
          And they are very important questions; and we have
          very little time in which to answer them. The
  50      questions that we have to ask and to answer about
          that procession during this moment of transition are
          so important that they may well change the lives of
          all men and women for ever. For we have to ask
          ourselves, here and now, do we wish to join that
  55      procession, or don't we? On what terms shall we join
          that procession? Above all, where is it leading us, the
          procession of educated men? The moment is short; it
          may last five years; ten years, or perhaps only a
          matter of a few months longer. . . . But, you will
  60      object, you have no time to think; you have your
          battles to fight, your rent to pay, your bazaars to
          organize. That excuse shall not serve you, Madam.
          As you know from your own experience, and there
          are facts that prove it, the daughters of educated men
  65      have always done their thinking from hand to
          mouth; not under green lamps at study tables in the
          cloisters of secluded colleges. They have thought
          while they stirred the pot, while they rocked the
          cradle. It was thus that they won us the right to our
  70      brand-new sixpence. It falls to us now to go on
          thinking; how are we to spend that sixpence? Think
          we must. Let us think in offices; in omnibuses; while
          we are standing in the crowd watching Coronations
          and Lord Mayors Shows; let us think . . . in the
  75      gallery of the House of Commons; in the Law Courts;
          let us think at baptisms and marriages and funerals.
          Let us never cease from thinking--what is this
          "civilization" in which we find ourselves? What are
          these ceremonies and why should we take part in
  80      them? What are these professions and why
          should we make money out of them? Where in
          short is it leading us, the procession of the sons of
          educated men? 

This passage is adapted from Francis J. Flynn and Gabrielle
S. Adams, "Money Can't Buy Love: Asymmetric Beliefs about
Gift Price and Feelings of Appreciation." 2008 by Elsevier
Inc.
          Every day, millions of shoppers hit the stores in
          full force--both online and on foot--searching
          frantically for the perfect gift. Last year, Americans
Line      spent over $30 billion at retail stores in the month of
  5       December alone. Aside from purchasing holiday
          gifts, most people regularly buy presents for other
          occasions throughout the year, including weddings,
          birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and baby
          showers. This frequent experience of gift-giving can
  10      engender ambivalent feelings in gift-givers. Many
          relish the opportunity to buy presents because
          gift-giving offers a powerful means to build stronger
          bonds with ones closest peers. At the same time,
          many dread the thought of buying gifts; they worry
  15      that their purchases will disappoint rather than
          delight the intended recipients.
          Anthropologists describe gift-giving as a positive
          social process, serving various political, religious, and
          psychological functions. Economists, however, offer
  20      a less favorable view. According to Waldfogel (1993),
          gift-giving represents an objective waste of resources.
          People buy gifts that recipients would not choose to
          buy on their own, or at least not spend as much
          money to purchase (a phenomenon referred to as
  25      "the deadweight loss of Christmas"). To wit, givers
          are likely to spend $100 to purchase a gift that
          receivers would spend only $80 to buy themselves.
          This "deadweight loss" suggests that gift-givers are
          not very good at predicting what gifts others will
  30      appreciate. That in itself is not surprising to social
          psychologists. Research has found that people often
          struggle to take account of others perspectives--
          their insights are subject to egocentrism, social
          projection, and multiple attribution errors.
  35      What is surprising is that gift-givers have
          considerable experience acting as both gift-givers and
          gift-recipients, but nevertheless tend to overspend
          each time they set out to purchase a meaningful gift.
          In the present research, we propose a unique
  40      psychological explanation for this overspending
          problem--i.e., that gift-givers equate how much they
          spend with how much recipients will appreciate the
          gift (the more expensive the gift, the stronger a
          gift-recipients feelings of appreciation). Although a
  45      link between gift price and feelings of appreciation
          might seem intuitive to gift-givers, such an
          assumption may be unfounded. Indeed, we propose
          that gift-recipients will be less inclined to base their
          feelings of appreciation on the magnitude of a gift
  50      than givers assume.
          Why do gift-givers assume that gift price is closely
          linked to gift-recipients feelings of appreciation?
          Perhaps givers believe that bigger (i.e., more
          expensive) gifts convey stronger signals of
  55      thoughtfulness and consideration. According to
          Camerer (1988) and others, gift-giving represents a
          symbolic ritual, whereby gift-givers attempt to signal
          their positive attitudes toward the intended recipient
          and their willingness to invest resources in a future
  60      relationship. In this sense, gift-givers may be
          motivated to spend more money on a gift in order to
          send a "stronger signal" to their intended recipient.
          As for gift-recipients, they may not construe smaller
          and larger gifts as representing smaller and larger
  65      signals of thoughtfulness and consideration.
          The notion of gift-givers and gift-recipients being
          unable to account for the other partys perspective
          seems puzzling because people slip in and out of
          these roles every day, and, in some cases, multiple
  70      times in the course of the same day. Yet, despite the
          extensive experience that people have as both givers
          and receivers, they often struggle to transfer
          information gained from one role (e.g., as a giver)
          and apply it in another, complementary role (e.g., as
  75      a receiver). In theoretical terms, people fail to utilize
          information about their own preferences and
          experiences in order to produce more efficient
          outcomes in their exchange relations. In practical
          terms, people spend hundreds of dollars each year on
  80      gifts, but somehow never learn to calibrate their gift
          expenditures according to personal insight.

Passage 1 is adapted from Michael Slezak, "Space Mining:
the Next Gold Rush?" 2013 by New Scientist. Passage 2 is
from the editors of New Scientist, Taming the Final
Frontier." 2013 by New Scientist.
          Passage 1
          Follow the money and you will end up in space.
          That's the message from a first-of-its-kind forum on
          mining beyond Earth.
Line      Convened in Sydney by the Australian Centre for
  5       Space Engineering Research, the event brought
          together mining companies, robotics experts, lunar
          scientists, and government agencies that are all
          working to make space mining a reality.
          The forum comes hot on the heels of the
  10      2012 unveiling of two private asteroid-mining firms.
          Planetary Resources of Washington says it will
          launch its first prospecting telescopes in two years,
          while Deep Space Industries of Virginia hopes to be
          harvesting metals from asteroids by 2020. Another
  15      commercial venture that sprung up in 2012,
          Golden Spike of Colorado, will be offering trips to
          the moon, including to potential lunar miners.
          Within a few decades, these firms may be
          meeting earthly demands for precious metals, such as
  20      platinum and gold, and the rare earth elements vital
          for personal electronics, such as yttrium and
          lanthanum. But like the gold rush pioneers who
          transformed the western United States, the first space
          miners won't just enrich themselves. They also hope
  25      to build an off-planet economy free of any bonds
          with Earth, in which the materials extracted and
          processed from the moon and asteroids are delivered
          for space-based projects.
          In this scenario, water mined from other
  30      worlds could become the most desired commodity.
          "In the desert, whats worth more: a kilogram of gold
          or a kilogram of water?" asks Kris Zacny of
          HoneyBee Robotics in New York. "Gold is useless.
          Water will let you live."
  35      Water ice from the moons poles could be sent to
          astronauts on the International Space Station for
          drinking or as a radiation shield. Splitting water into
          oxygen and hydrogen makes spacecraft fuel, so
          ice-rich asteroids could become interplanetary
  40      refuelling stations.
          Companies are eyeing the iron, silicon, and
          aluminium in lunar soil and asteroids, which could
          be used in 3D printers to make spare parts or
          machinery. Others want to turn space dirt into
  45      concrete for landing pads, shelters, and roads.

          Passage 2
          The motivation for deep-space travel is shifting
          from discovery to economics. The past year has seen
          a flurry of proposals aimed at bringing celestial riches
          down to Earth. No doubt this will make a few
  50      billionaires even wealthier, but we all stand to gain:
          the mineral bounty and spin-off technologies could
          enrich us all.
          But before the miners start firing up their rockets,
          we should pause for thought. At first glance, space
  55      mining seems to sidestep most environmental
          concerns: there is (probably!) no life on asteroids,
          and thus no habitats to trash. But its consequences
          --both here on Earth and in space--merit careful
          consideration.
  60      Part of this is about principles. Some will argue
          that space's "magnificent desolation" is not ours to
          despoil, just as they argue that our own planets poles
          should remain pristine. Others will suggest that
          glutting ourselves on spaces riches is not an
  65      acceptable alternative to developing more sustainable
          ways of earthly life.
          History suggests that those will be hard lines to
          hold, and it may be difficult to persuade the public
          that such barren environments are worth preserving.
  70      After all, they exist in vast abundance, and even
          fewer people will experience them than have walked
          through Antarctica's icy landscapes.
          There's also the emerging off-world economy to
          consider. The resources that are valuable in orbit and
  75      beyond may be very different to those we prize on
          Earth. Questions of their stewardship have barely
          been broached--and the relevant legal and regulatory
          framework is fragmentary, to put it mildly.
          Space miners, like their earthly counterparts, are
  80      often reluctant to engage with such questions.
          One speaker at last weeks space-mining forum in
          Sydney, Australia, concluded with a plea that
          regulation should be avoided. But miners have much
          to gain from a broad agreement on the for-profit
  85      exploitation of space. Without consensus, claims will
          be disputed, investments risky, and the gains made
          insecure. It is in all of our long-term interests to seek
          one out.

Passage 1 is adapted from Michael Slezak, "Space Mining:
the Next Gold Rush?" 2013 by New Scientist. Passage 2 is
from the editors of New Scientist, Taming the Final
Frontier." 2013 by New Scientist.
          Passage 1
          Follow the money and you will end up in space.
          That's the message from a first-of-its-kind forum on
          mining beyond Earth.
Line      Convened in Sydney by the Australian Centre for
  5       Space Engineering Research, the event brought
          together mining companies, robotics experts, lunar
          scientists, and government agencies that are all
          working to make space mining a reality.
          The forum comes hot on the heels of the
  10      2012 unveiling of two private asteroid-mining firms.
          Planetary Resources of Washington says it will
          launch its first prospecting telescopes in two years,
          while Deep Space Industries of Virginia hopes to be
          harvesting metals from asteroids by 2020. Another
  15      commercial venture that sprung up in 2012,
          Golden Spike of Colorado, will be offering trips to
          the moon, including to potential lunar miners.
          Within a few decades, these firms may be
          meeting earthly demands for precious metals, such as
  20      platinum and gold, and the rare earth elements vital
          for personal electronics, such as yttrium and
          lanthanum. But like the gold rush pioneers who
          transformed the western United States, the first space
          miners won't just enrich themselves. They also hope
  25      to build an off-planet economy free of any bonds
          with Earth, in which the materials extracted and
          processed from the moon and asteroids are delivered
          for space-based projects.
          In this scenario, water mined from other
  30      worlds could become the most desired commodity.
          "In the desert, whats worth more: a kilogram of gold
          or a kilogram of water?" asks Kris Zacny of
          HoneyBee Robotics in New York. "Gold is useless.
          Water will let you live."
  35      Water ice from the moons poles could be sent to
          astronauts on the International Space Station for
          drinking or as a radiation shield. Splitting water into
          oxygen and hydrogen makes spacecraft fuel, so
          ice-rich asteroids could become interplanetary
  40      refuelling stations.
          Companies are eyeing the iron, silicon, and
          aluminium in lunar soil and asteroids, which could
          be used in 3D printers to make spare parts or
          machinery. Others want to turn space dirt into
  45      concrete for landing pads, shelters, and roads.

          Passage 2
          The motivation for deep-space travel is shifting
          from discovery to economics. The past year has seen
          a flurry of proposals aimed at bringing celestial riches
          down to Earth. No doubt this will make a few
  50      billionaires even wealthier, but we all stand to gain:
          the mineral bounty and spin-off technologies could
          enrich us all.
          But before the miners start firing up their rockets,
          we should pause for thought. At first glance, space
  55      mining seems to sidestep most environmental
          concerns: there is (probably!) no life on asteroids,
          and thus no habitats to trash. But its consequences
          --both here on Earth and in space--merit careful
          consideration.
  60      Part of this is about principles. Some will argue
          that space's "magnificent desolation" is not ours to
          despoil, just as they argue that our own planets poles
          should remain pristine. Others will suggest that
          glutting ourselves on spaces riches is not an
  65      acceptable alternative to developing more sustainable
          ways of earthly life.
          History suggests that those will be hard lines to
          hold, and it may be difficult to persuade the public
          that such barren environments are worth preserving.
  70      After all, they exist in vast abundance, and even
          fewer people will experience them than have walked
          through Antarctica's icy landscapes.
          There's also the emerging off-world economy to
          consider. The resources that are valuable in orbit and
  75      beyond may be very different to those we prize on
          Earth. Questions of their stewardship have barely
          been broached--and the relevant legal and regulatory
          framework is fragmentary, to put it mildly.
          Space miners, like their earthly counterparts, are
  80      often reluctant to engage with such questions.
          One speaker at last weeks space-mining forum in
          Sydney, Australia, concluded with a plea that
          regulation should be avoided. But miners have much
          to gain from a broad agreement on the for-profit
  85      exploitation of space. Without consensus, claims will
          be disputed, investments risky, and the gains made
          insecure. It is in all of our long-term interests to seek
          one out.

This passage is adapted from Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas.
1938 by Harcourt, Inc. Here, Woolf considers the situation
of women in English society.
          Close at hand is a bridge over the River Thames,
          an admirable vantage ground for us to make a
          survey. The river flows beneath; barges pass, laden
Line      with timber, bursting with corn; there on one side are
  5       the domes and spires of the city; on the other,
          Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. It is a
          place to stand on by the hour, dreaming. But not
          now. Now we are pressed for time. Now we are here
          to consider facts; now we must fix our eyes upon the
  10      procession--the procession of the sons of educated
          men.
          There they go, our brothers who have been
          educated at public schools and universities,
          mounting those steps, passing in and out of those
  15      doors, ascending those pulpits, preaching, teaching,
          administering justice, practising medicine,
          transacting business, making money. It is a solemn
          sight always--a procession, like a caravanserai
          crossing a desert. . . . But now, for the past twenty
  20      years or so, it is no longer a sight merely, a
          photograph, or fresco scrawled upon the walls of
          time, at which we can look with merely an esthetic
          appreciation. For there, trapesing along at the tail
          end of the procession, we go ourselves. And that
  25      makes a difference. We who have looked so long at
          the pageant in books, or from a curtained window
          watched educated men leaving the house at about
          nine-thirty to go to an office, returning to the house
          at about six-thirty from an office, need look passively
  30      no longer. We too can leave the house, can mount
          those steps, pass in and out of those doors, . . . make
          money, administer justice. . . . We who now agitate
          these humble pens may in another century or two
          speak from a pulpit. Nobody will dare contradict us
  35      then; we shall be the mouthpieces of the divine
          spirit--a solemn thought, is it not? Who can say
          whether, as time goes on, we may not dress in
          military uniform, with gold lace on our breasts,
          swords at our sides, and something like the old
  40      family coal-scuttle on our heads, save that that
          venerable object was never decorated with plumes of
          white horsehair. You laugh--indeed the shadow of
          the private house still makes those dresses look a
          little queer. We have worn private clothes so
  45      long. . . . But we have not come here to laugh, or to
          talk of fashions--men's and womens. We are here,
          on the bridge, to ask ourselves certain questions.
          And they are very important questions; and we have
          very little time in which to answer them. The
  50      questions that we have to ask and to answer about
          that procession during this moment of transition are
          so important that they may well change the lives of
          all men and women for ever. For we have to ask
          ourselves, here and now, do we wish to join that
  55      procession, or don't we? On what terms shall we join
          that procession? Above all, where is it leading us, the
          procession of educated men? The moment is short; it
          may last five years; ten years, or perhaps only a
          matter of a few months longer. . . . But, you will
  60      object, you have no time to think; you have your
          battles to fight, your rent to pay, your bazaars to
          organize. That excuse shall not serve you, Madam.
          As you know from your own experience, and there
          are facts that prove it, the daughters of educated men
  65      have always done their thinking from hand to
          mouth; not under green lamps at study tables in the
          cloisters of secluded colleges. They have thought
          while they stirred the pot, while they rocked the
          cradle. It was thus that they won us the right to our
  70      brand-new sixpence. It falls to us now to go on
          thinking; how are we to spend that sixpence? Think
          we must. Let us think in offices; in omnibuses; while
          we are standing in the crowd watching Coronations
          and Lord Mayors Shows; let us think . . . in the
  75      gallery of the House of Commons; in the Law Courts;
          let us think at baptisms and marriages and funerals.
          Let us never cease from thinking--what is this
          "civilization" in which we find ourselves? What are
          these ceremonies and why should we take part in
  80      them? What are these professions and why
          should we make money out of them? Where in
          short is it leading us, the procession of the sons of
          educated men? 

This passage is adapted from Francis J. Flynn and Gabrielle
S. Adams, "Money Can't Buy Love: Asymmetric Beliefs about
Gift Price and Feelings of Appreciation." 2008 by Elsevier
Inc.
          Every day, millions of shoppers hit the stores in
          full force--both online and on foot--searching
          frantically for the perfect gift. Last year, Americans
Line      spent over $30 billion at retail stores in the month of
  5       December alone. Aside from purchasing holiday
          gifts, most people regularly buy presents for other
          occasions throughout the year, including weddings,
          birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and baby
          showers. This frequent experience of gift-giving can
  10      engender ambivalent feelings in gift-givers. Many
          relish the opportunity to buy presents because
          gift-giving offers a powerful means to build stronger
          bonds with ones closest peers. At the same time,
          many dread the thought of buying gifts; they worry
  15      that their purchases will disappoint rather than
          delight the intended recipients.
          Anthropologists describe gift-giving as a positive
          social process, serving various political, religious, and
          psychological functions. Economists, however, offer
  20      a less favorable view. According to Waldfogel (1993),
          gift-giving represents an objective waste of resources.
          People buy gifts that recipients would not choose to
          buy on their own, or at least not spend as much
          money to purchase (a phenomenon referred to as
  25      "the deadweight loss of Christmas"). To wit, givers
          are likely to spend $100 to purchase a gift that
          receivers would spend only $80 to buy themselves.
          This "deadweight loss" suggests that gift-givers are
          not very good at predicting what gifts others will
  30      appreciate. That in itself is not surprising to social
          psychologists. Research has found that people often
          struggle to take account of others perspectives--
          their insights are subject to egocentrism, social
          projection, and multiple attribution errors.
  35      What is surprising is that gift-givers have
          considerable experience acting as both gift-givers and
          gift-recipients, but nevertheless tend to overspend
          each time they set out to purchase a meaningful gift.
          In the present research, we propose a unique
  40      psychological explanation for this overspending
          problem--i.e., that gift-givers equate how much they
          spend with how much recipients will appreciate the
          gift (the more expensive the gift, the stronger a
          gift-recipients feelings of appreciation). Although a
  45      link between gift price and feelings of appreciation
          might seem intuitive to gift-givers, such an
          assumption may be unfounded. Indeed, we propose
          that gift-recipients will be less inclined to base their
          feelings of appreciation on the magnitude of a gift
  50      than givers assume.
          Why do gift-givers assume that gift price is closely
          linked to gift-recipients feelings of appreciation?
          Perhaps givers believe that bigger (i.e., more
          expensive) gifts convey stronger signals of
  55      thoughtfulness and consideration. According to
          Camerer (1988) and others, gift-giving represents a
          symbolic ritual, whereby gift-givers attempt to signal
          their positive attitudes toward the intended recipient
          and their willingness to invest resources in a future
  60      relationship. In this sense, gift-givers may be
          motivated to spend more money on a gift in order to
          send a "stronger signal" to their intended recipient.
          As for gift-recipients, they may not construe smaller
          and larger gifts as representing smaller and larger
  65      signals of thoughtfulness and consideration.
          The notion of gift-givers and gift-recipients being
          unable to account for the other partys perspective
          seems puzzling because people slip in and out of
          these roles every day, and, in some cases, multiple
  70      times in the course of the same day. Yet, despite the
          extensive experience that people have as both givers
          and receivers, they often struggle to transfer
          information gained from one role (e.g., as a giver)
          and apply it in another, complementary role (e.g., as
  75      a receiver). In theoretical terms, people fail to utilize
          information about their own preferences and
          experiences in order to produce more efficient
          outcomes in their exchange relations. In practical
          terms, people spend hundreds of dollars each year on
  80      gifts, but somehow never learn to calibrate their gift
          expenditures according to personal insight.

This passage is adapted from Francis J. Flynn and Gabrielle
S. Adams, "Money Can't Buy Love: Asymmetric Beliefs about
Gift Price and Feelings of Appreciation." 2008 by Elsevier
Inc.
          Every day, millions of shoppers hit the stores in
          full force--both online and on foot--searching
          frantically for the perfect gift. Last year, Americans
Line      spent over $30 billion at retail stores in the month of
  5       December alone. Aside from purchasing holiday
          gifts, most people regularly buy presents for other
          occasions throughout the year, including weddings,
          birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and baby
          showers. This frequent experience of gift-giving can
  10      engender ambivalent feelings in gift-givers. Many
          relish the opportunity to buy presents because
          gift-giving offers a powerful means to build stronger
          bonds with ones closest peers. At the same time,
          many dread the thought of buying gifts; they worry
  15      that their purchases will disappoint rather than
          delight the intended recipients.
          Anthropologists describe gift-giving as a positive
          social process, serving various political, religious, and
          psychological functions. Economists, however, offer
  20      a less favorable view. According to Waldfogel (1993),
          gift-giving represents an objective waste of resources.
          People buy gifts that recipients would not choose to
          buy on their own, or at least not spend as much
          money to purchase (a phenomenon referred to as
  25      "the deadweight loss of Christmas"). To wit, givers
          are likely to spend $100 to purchase a gift that
          receivers would spend only $80 to buy themselves.
          This "deadweight loss" suggests that gift-givers are
          not very good at predicting what gifts others will
  30      appreciate. That in itself is not surprising to social
          psychologists. Research has found that people often
          struggle to take account of others perspectives--
          their insights are subject to egocentrism, social
          projection, and multiple attribution errors.
  35      What is surprising is that gift-givers have
          considerable experience acting as both gift-givers and
          gift-recipients, but nevertheless tend to overspend
          each time they set out to purchase a meaningful gift.
          In the present research, we propose a unique
  40      psychological explanation for this overspending
          problem--i.e., that gift-givers equate how much they
          spend with how much recipients will appreciate the
          gift (the more expensive the gift, the stronger a
          gift-recipients feelings of appreciation). Although a
  45      link between gift price and feelings of appreciation
          might seem intuitive to gift-givers, such an
          assumption may be unfounded. Indeed, we propose
          that gift-recipients will be less inclined to base their
          feelings of appreciation on the magnitude of a gift
  50      than givers assume.
          Why do gift-givers assume that gift price is closely
          linked to gift-recipients feelings of appreciation?
          Perhaps givers believe that bigger (i.e., more
          expensive) gifts convey stronger signals of
  55      thoughtfulness and consideration. According to
          Camerer (1988) and others, gift-giving represents a
          symbolic ritual, whereby gift-givers attempt to signal
          their positive attitudes toward the intended recipient
          and their willingness to invest resources in a future
  60      relationship. In this sense, gift-givers may be
          motivated to spend more money on a gift in order to
          send a "stronger signal" to their intended recipient.
          As for gift-recipients, they may not construe smaller
          and larger gifts as representing smaller and larger
  65      signals of thoughtfulness and consideration.
          The notion of gift-givers and gift-recipients being
          unable to account for the other partys perspective
          seems puzzling because people slip in and out of
          these roles every day, and, in some cases, multiple
  70      times in the course of the same day. Yet, despite the
          extensive experience that people have as both givers
          and receivers, they often struggle to transfer
          information gained from one role (e.g., as a giver)
          and apply it in another, complementary role (e.g., as
  75      a receiver). In theoretical terms, people fail to utilize
          information about their own preferences and
          experiences in order to produce more efficient
          outcomes in their exchange relations. In practical
          terms, people spend hundreds of dollars each year on
  80      gifts, but somehow never learn to calibrate their gift
          expenditures according to personal insight.

This passage is adapted from Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas.
1938 by Harcourt, Inc. Here, Woolf considers the situation
of women in English society.
          Close at hand is a bridge over the River Thames,
          an admirable vantage ground for us to make a
          survey. The river flows beneath; barges pass, laden
Line      with timber, bursting with corn; there on one side are
  5       the domes and spires of the city; on the other,
          Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. It is a
          place to stand on by the hour, dreaming. But not
          now. Now we are pressed for time. Now we are here
          to consider facts; now we must fix our eyes upon the
  10      procession--the procession of the sons of educated
          men.
          There they go, our brothers who have been
          educated at public schools and universities,
          mounting those steps, passing in and out of those
  15      doors, ascending those pulpits, preaching, teaching,
          administering justice, practising medicine,
          transacting business, making money. It is a solemn
          sight always--a procession, like a caravanserai
          crossing a desert. . . . But now, for the past twenty
  20      years or so, it is no longer a sight merely, a
          photograph, or fresco scrawled upon the walls of
          time, at which we can look with merely an esthetic
          appreciation. For there, trapesing along at the tail
          end of the procession, we go ourselves. And that
  25      makes a difference. We who have looked so long at
          the pageant in books, or from a curtained window
          watched educated men leaving the house at about
          nine-thirty to go to an office, returning to the house
          at about six-thirty from an office, need look passively
  30      no longer. We too can leave the house, can mount
          those steps, pass in and out of those doors, . . . make
          money, administer justice. . . . We who now agitate
          these humble pens may in another century or two
          speak from a pulpit. Nobody will dare contradict us
  35      then; we shall be the mouthpieces of the divine
          spirit--a solemn thought, is it not? Who can say
          whether, as time goes on, we may not dress in
          military uniform, with gold lace on our breasts,
          swords at our sides, and something like the old
  40      family coal-scuttle on our heads, save that that
          venerable object was never decorated with plumes of
          white horsehair. You laugh--indeed the shadow of
          the private house still makes those dresses look a
          little queer. We have worn private clothes so
  45      long. . . . But we have not come here to laugh, or to
          talk of fashions--men's and womens. We are here,
          on the bridge, to ask ourselves certain questions.
          And they are very important questions; and we have
          very little time in which to answer them. The
  50      questions that we have to ask and to answer about
          that procession during this moment of transition are
          so important that they may well change the lives of
          all men and women for ever. For we have to ask
          ourselves, here and now, do we wish to join that
  55      procession, or don't we? On what terms shall we join
          that procession? Above all, where is it leading us, the
          procession of educated men? The moment is short; it
          may last five years; ten years, or perhaps only a
          matter of a few months longer. . . . But, you will
  60      object, you have no time to think; you have your
          battles to fight, your rent to pay, your bazaars to
          organize. That excuse shall not serve you, Madam.
          As you know from your own experience, and there
          are facts that prove it, the daughters of educated men
  65      have always done their thinking from hand to
          mouth; not under green lamps at study tables in the
          cloisters of secluded colleges. They have thought
          while they stirred the pot, while they rocked the
          cradle. It was thus that they won us the right to our
  70      brand-new sixpence. It falls to us now to go on
          thinking; how are we to spend that sixpence? Think
          we must. Let us think in offices; in omnibuses; while
          we are standing in the crowd watching Coronations
          and Lord Mayors Shows; let us think . . . in the
  75      gallery of the House of Commons; in the Law Courts;
          let us think at baptisms and marriages and funerals.
          Let us never cease from thinking--what is this
          "civilization" in which we find ourselves? What are
          these ceremonies and why should we take part in
  80      them? What are these professions and why
          should we make money out of them? Where in
          short is it leading us, the procession of the sons of
          educated men? 

Passage 1 is adapted from Michael Slezak, "Space Mining:
the Next Gold Rush?" 2013 by New Scientist. Passage 2 is
from the editors of New Scientist, Taming the Final
Frontier." 2013 by New Scientist.
          Passage 1
          Follow the money and you will end up in space.
          That's the message from a first-of-its-kind forum on
          mining beyond Earth.
Line      Convened in Sydney by the Australian Centre for
  5       Space Engineering Research, the event brought
          together mining companies, robotics experts, lunar
          scientists, and government agencies that are all
          working to make space mining a reality.
          The forum comes hot on the heels of the
  10      2012 unveiling of two private asteroid-mining firms.
          Planetary Resources of Washington says it will
          launch its first prospecting telescopes in two years,
          while Deep Space Industries of Virginia hopes to be
          harvesting metals from asteroids by 2020. Another
  15      commercial venture that sprung up in 2012,
          Golden Spike of Colorado, will be offering trips to
          the moon, including to potential lunar miners.
          Within a few decades, these firms may be
          meeting earthly demands for precious metals, such as
  20      platinum and gold, and the rare earth elements vital
          for personal electronics, such as yttrium and
          lanthanum. But like the gold rush pioneers who
          transformed the western United States, the first space
          miners won't just enrich themselves. They also hope
  25      to build an off-planet economy free of any bonds
          with Earth, in which the materials extracted and
          processed from the moon and asteroids are delivered
          for space-based projects.
          In this scenario, water mined from other
  30      worlds could become the most desired commodity.
          "In the desert, whats worth more: a kilogram of gold
          or a kilogram of water?" asks Kris Zacny of
          HoneyBee Robotics in New York. "Gold is useless.
          Water will let you live."
  35      Water ice from the moons poles could be sent to
          astronauts on the International Space Station for
          drinking or as a radiation shield. Splitting water into
          oxygen and hydrogen makes spacecraft fuel, so
          ice-rich asteroids could become interplanetary
  40      refuelling stations.
          Companies are eyeing the iron, silicon, and
          aluminium in lunar soil and asteroids, which could
          be used in 3D printers to make spare parts or
          machinery. Others want to turn space dirt into
  45      concrete for landing pads, shelters, and roads.

          Passage 2
          The motivation for deep-space travel is shifting
          from discovery to economics. The past year has seen
          a flurry of proposals aimed at bringing celestial riches
          down to Earth. No doubt this will make a few
  50      billionaires even wealthier, but we all stand to gain:
          the mineral bounty and spin-off technologies could
          enrich us all.
          But before the miners start firing up their rockets,
          we should pause for thought. At first glance, space
  55      mining seems to sidestep most environmental
          concerns: there is (probably!) no life on asteroids,
          and thus no habitats to trash. But its consequences
          --both here on Earth and in space--merit careful
          consideration.
  60      Part of this is about principles. Some will argue
          that space's "magnificent desolation" is not ours to
          despoil, just as they argue that our own planets poles
          should remain pristine. Others will suggest that
          glutting ourselves on spaces riches is not an
  65      acceptable alternative to developing more sustainable
          ways of earthly life.
          History suggests that those will be hard lines to
          hold, and it may be difficult to persuade the public
          that such barren environments are worth preserving.
  70      After all, they exist in vast abundance, and even
          fewer people will experience them than have walked
          through Antarctica's icy landscapes.
          There's also the emerging off-world economy to
          consider. The resources that are valuable in orbit and
  75      beyond may be very different to those we prize on
          Earth. Questions of their stewardship have barely
          been broached--and the relevant legal and regulatory
          framework is fragmentary, to put it mildly.
          Space miners, like their earthly counterparts, are
  80      often reluctant to engage with such questions.
          One speaker at last weeks space-mining forum in
          Sydney, Australia, concluded with a plea that
          regulation should be avoided. But miners have much
          to gain from a broad agreement on the for-profit
  85      exploitation of space. Without consensus, claims will
          be disputed, investments risky, and the gains made
          insecure. It is in all of our long-term interests to seek
          one out.