31 Bill Bowler

32 Tony Brown

33 Steve Black

34 Paul Jepson

35 Patrick Leahy

36 False

37 True

38 True

39 True

40 Not Given

11
Reading test 2
Wildfires

A
Wildfires are fires occurring either in the countryside or an area of wilderness. They
are different from other fires in that they are uncontrolled, are much larger, and are
able to spread out rapidly from the original source at speeds of up to 23 kilometres
per hour. They are also able to ‘jump’ over gaps such as roads and even rivers. Wildfires
occur in countries that have a lot of vegetation and a hot, dry climate. They are most
commonly found in Australia due to the weather conditions of the country. They pose
a danger to human and animal life and the infrastructure throughout the year, but are
especially prevalent in the warmer months of spring and summer. The United States
also has a huge number of wildfires with an estimated sixty to eighty thousand a year,
resulting in a loss of between three and ten million acres of land annually. In 1910 a
single wildfire burnt over three million acres of land in the US.

B
Ninety per cent of wildfires are ignited by people, the remaining 10 per cent by
lightning. Common human-generated causes of wildfires include arson, camping
fires, careless disposal of lit cigarettes, bonfires lit to burn rubbish and children playing
with fireworks or matches. Three components are necessary to start a fire: oxygen, fuel
and heat. These three make up the so-called “fire triangle” that fire fighters use to put
out blazes. The theory is that if they can remove one of the triangle pillars, they can
take control of and eventually extinguish the fire.

C
The speed at which wildfires spread depends on the fuel around them. Fuel is any
living or dead material that will burn. Types of fuel include anything from trees,
underbrush and grassland to houses. The quantity of inflammable material around a
fire is known as “the fuel load” and is determined by the amount of available fuel per
unit area, usually measured in tons per acre. The dryness of the fuel also influences
how fires behave. Dry fuel burns quickly and makes the fires much harder to control.
Basic fuel characteristics affecting a fire are size and shape, arrangement and
moisture, but with wildfires, where fuel usually consists of the same type of material,
the main factor influencing ignition time is the ratio of the fuel’s total surface area to
its volume. The surface area of a twig, for example, is not much bigger than its volume,
so it ignites rapidly. However, a tree’s surface area is much smaller than its volume, so
it requires more time to heat up before ignition.

D
Three weather variables affect wildfires: temperature, wind and moisture.
Temperature directly influences the sparking of wildfires, as heat is one of the three
pillars of the fire triangle. The sun heats and dries sticks, trees and underbrush, turning
them into potential fuel. Higher temperatures can cause fuels to ignite, burn more
quickly and add to the speed of a wildfire’s spread. Consequently, wildfires tend to
12
rage in the afternoon, when temperatures are at their hottest. The biggest influence
on a wildfire is probably the wind. This is also the most unpredictable variable. Winds
provide fires with extra oxygen and more dry fuel, and make wildfires spread more
quickly. Fires also create winds of their own that can be up to ten times faster than the
ambient wind. Winds can spread embers that generate additional fires, an event
known as “spotting”. Winds also change the course of fires, and gusts can take flames
up into trees, starting “crown fires”. Humidity and precipitation provide moisture, the
last of the three weather variables. Higher levels of humidity mean fewer wildfires. It is
hard for fuel to ignite if moisture levels are high and humidity slows fires down and
reduces their intensity.

E
Topography can also have a huge influence on how wildfires spread. In contrast to fuel
and weather, topography barely changes over time and can help or hinder the spread
of a wildfire. The principal topographical factor effecting wildfires is slope. Fires move
uphill much faster than downhill, and the steeper the slope, the quicker fires move.
This is because fires move in the same direction as the ambient wind, which generally
blows uphill. In addition, the fire can preheat fuel further uphill as smoke and heat rise
in that direction. However, once a fire reaches the top of a hill, it has to struggle to
come back down.

F
Each year thousands of fire fighters risk their lives when dealing with wildfires. There
are two categories of elite fire fighters: hotshots and smokejumpers. Operating in 20-
man units, the key task of hotshots is to construct firebreaks (a strip of land with all
potential fuel removed) around fires. As their name suggests, smokejumpers jump out
of aircraft to reach smaller fires situated in inaccessible regions. Their aim is to contain
these smaller fires before they turn into bigger ones. As well as constructing firebreaks
and putting water and retardant (a red chemical containing phosphate fertiliser) on
fires, fire fighters also create “backfires” which burn towards the main fire, incinerating
any potential fuel in the wildfire’s path. Fire fighters on the ground also receive
extensive support from the planes and helicopters which drop thousands of gallons
of water and retardant to slow and cool fires.

Questions 1 - 5

The text has six paragraphs. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph. Write
the appropriate number (i - ix).

Example Answer

Paragraph A iv

1 Paragraph B

2 Paragraph C
13
3 Paragraph D

4 Paragraph E

5 Paragraph F

i The Role of the Elements

ii Solutions from the Air

iii Fire Triggers

iv Wilderness Burning

v The Lie of the Land

vi Rain - the Natural Saviour

vii Feeding the Flames

viii Fires and Trees

ix Battling the Blaze

Questions 6 - 9

Answer the questions. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each
answer.

6 What is the term for the amount of material that could be lit around a fire?

7 When do wildfires burn at their fiercest?

8 What can travel in the wind to create fires at some distance from the initial fire?

9 What is the name of the additional fires that fire fighters use to control wild fires?

Questions 10 - 13

Complete the sentences below. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text
for each answer.

10 The most important factor in how quickly a wildfire catches fire is the fuel's surface
to volume __________.

11 The most significant weather factor to affect wildfires’ actions is _________.

12 Fires on the tops of trees are known as ___________.

13 Wildfires usually travel much faster __________ because of the typical direction of
prevailing winds.

14
The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom

The first reference to a paper mill in the United Kingdom was in a book printed by
Wynken de Worde in about 1495. This mill belonged to a certain John Tate and was
near Hertford. Other early mills included one in Dartford, owned by Sir John Spielman,
who was granted special privileges for the collection of rags by Queen Elizabeth, and
one built in Buckinghamshire before the end of the sixteenth century. During the first
half of the seventeenth century, mills were established near Edinburgh, at Cannock
Chase in Staffordshire and several in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey. The
Bank of England has been issuing bank notes since 1694, and ones with simple
watermarks in them since at least 1697. Henri de Portal was awarded the contract in
December 1724 for producing the Bank of England watermarked bank-note paper at
Bere Mill in Hampshire. Portals has retained this contract ever since but production is
no longer at Bere Mill.

There were two major developments around the middle of the eighteenth century in
the paper industry in the UK. The first was the introduction of the rag engine or
hollander, invented in Holland sometime before 1670, which replaced the stamping
mills that had previously been used for the disintegration of the rags and beating of
the pulp. The second was in the design and construction of the mould used for
forming the sheet, solving the problem of early moulds, which had straight wires sewn
down on to the wooden foundation. The early moulds produced an irregular surface
which had characteristic “laid” marks and, when printed on, the ink did not give clear,
sharp lines. James Whatman the Elder developed a revolutionary woven wire fabric,
and produced the first woven paper in 1757.

Increasing demand for paper during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries led to shortages of the rags needed to produce it. Part of the problem was
that no satisfactory method of bleaching pulp had yet been devised, which meant that
only white rags could be used to produce white paper. Chlorine bleaching was being
used by the end of the eighteenth century, but excessive use produced papers that
were of poor quality and deteriorated quickly. By 1800 up to 24 million pounds of rags
were being used annually to produce 10,000 tons of paper in England and Wales, and
1,000 tons in Scotland, the home market being supplemented by imports, mainly from
the continent. In 1765, Jacob Christian Schäffer had carried out experiments using
other materials, such as sawdust, rye straw, cabbage stumps and spruce wood, and
around 1800, Matthias Koops carried out further experiments using straw and other
materials at the Neckinger Mill, Bermondsey, but it was not until the middle of the
nineteenth century that pulp produced from straw or wood was utilised in the
production of paper.

By 1800 there were 430 (564 in 1821) paper mills in England and Wales (mostly single
vat mills), under 50 (74 in 1823) in Scotland and 60 in Ireland, but all the production
15
was by hand and the output was low. The first attempt at a paper machine to
mechanise the process was patented in 1799 by Frenchman Nicholas Louis Robert,
but it was not a success. However, the drawings were brought to England by John
Gamble in 1801 and passed on to the brothers Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier, who
financed the engineer Brian Donkin to build the machine. The first successful machine
was installed at Frogmore, Hertfordshire, in 1803. The paper was pressed onto an
endless wire cloth, transferred to a continuous felt blanket and then pressed again.
Finally it was cut off the reel into sheets and loft-dried in the same way as handmade
paper. In 1809 John Dickinson patented a machine that used a wire cloth-covered
cylinder revolving in a pulp suspension, the water being removed through the centre
of the cylinder and the layer of pulp removed from the surface by a felt covered roller
(later replaced by a continuous felt passing round a roller). This machine was the
forerunner of and model for the present-day cylinder mould or vat machine, used
mainly for the production of boards. Both of these machines produced paper as a wet
sheet, which required drying after removal from the machine, but in 1821 T. B.
Crompton patented a method of drying the paper continuously, using a woven fabric
to hold the sheet against steam-heated drying cylinders. After it had been pressed,
the paper was cut into sheets by a cutter fixed at the end of the last cylinder.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the pattern for the mechanised production of
paper had been set. Subsequent developments concentrated on increasing the size
and production of the machines. Similarly, developments in alternative pulps to rags,
mainly wood and esparto grass, enabled production increases. Conversely, by 1884,
despite the increase in paper production, as production was concentrated into fewer,
larger units, there was a decrease in the number of paper mills in England and Wales
to 250 and in Ireland to 14 (Scotland increased to 60). The geographical location of
mills also changed. Early mills were small and had been situated in rural areas, but
larger mills were built in or near urban areas, closer to suppliers of the raw materials
(esparto mills were generally situated near a port as the raw material was brought in
by ship) and the paper markets.

Questions 14 - 20

Choose TRUE if the statement agrees with the information given in the text,
choose FALSE if the statement contradicts the information, or choose NOT GIVEN if
there is no information on this.

14 The printing of paper money in the UK has always been done by the same
company.

15 Early paper-making was at its peak in Holland in the eighteenth century.

16 Eighteenth-century developments in moulds led to the improvement of a flatter,

16
17 Chlorine bleaching proved the answer to the need for more white paper in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

18 The first mechanised process that had any success still used elements of the
handmade paper-making process.

19 Modern paper-making machines are still based on John Dickinson’s 1809 patent.

20 The development of bigger mills near larger towns was so that mill owners could
take advantage of potential larger workforces.

Questions 21 - 26

Choose the correct date for each event. Write the correct letter A-G for each answer.

21 The first circulation of paper currency by the Bank of England.

22 Watermarks first used for paper money.

23 Manufacture of the first woven paper.

24 The first machine for making paper copyrighted.

25 A new method for drying paper patented.

26 The debut success of a machine for making paper.

DATES

A 1803

B 1757

C 1821

D 1697

E 1799

F 1670

G 1694

PROBLEMS WITH WATER

Nearly half the world’s population will experience critical water shortages by 2025,
according to a report by the United Nations (UN). Wars over access to water are a
rising possibility and the main conflicts in Africa during the next 25 years could be over
this most precious of commodities. “Potential water wars are likely in areas where
rivers and lakes are shared by more than one country,” says Mark Evans, a UN worker.
Evans predicts: “Population growth and economic development will lead to nearly one
17
in two people in Africa living in countries which face water scarcity or ‘water stress’
within 25 years.” Water scarcity is defined as less than 1,000 cubic metres of water
available per person per year, while water stress means less than 1,500 cubic metres
of water per person per year. The UN report says that by 2025, 12 more African
countries will join the 13 that already suffer from water stress or water scarcity. What
makes the water issue even more urgent is that demand for water will grow
increasingly fast as larger areas are used to grow crops. Evans adds: “The strong
possibility that the world is experiencing climate change also adds to this urgency.”

The question of how to deal with water shortages is in the forefront of the battle
between environmental activists on the one hand and governments and construction
firms on the other. At a recent World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg, activists mounted a campaign to halt dam construction on
environmental grounds.

One of the UN’s eight millennium development goals is to halve the number of people
without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2020. This had already been
agreed upon at the summit, but one of the unresolved issues in the implementation
plan was whether the goal on water would be extended to cover sanitation. The risks
posed by water-borne diseases in the absence of sanitation facilities mean that the
two goals are closely related. US negotiators have been resisting the extension of
goals to include sanitation due to the financial commitment this would entail.
However, Evans says the US is about to agree to this extension. This agreement could
give the UN a chance to show that in one key area the world development agenda
was advanced in Johannesburg.

A number of projects and funding initiatives were also unveiled at the summit.
However, implementation is always harder, as South Africa has experienced in its
water programme. Graham Bennetts, a water official in the South African government
explains: “Since the 1994 elections, the government has provided easy access to water
for 7 million people, but extending this to a further 7 million and ensuring this progress
is sustainable is one of South Africa’s foremost implementation challenges.” In South
Africa, access to water is defined as 25 litres a person daily that can be accessed from
within a distance of 200 metres from where they live. “Although South Africa’s feat far
exceeds the UN millennium goal on water supply, severe constraints on local
government capacity make a more rapid expansion difficult,” says Bennetts.

However, according to Liane Greef of the Environmental Monitoring Group, for some
people who have only recently been given ready access to water the benefits are
short lived as they are unable to pay for the extra costs for water and the supply is
then cut off. Greef is the programme manager for Water Justice in southern Africa.
Those whose water supply is cut off also automatically forfeit their right to 6,000 free
litres of water for a family a month under South Africa’s “water for all” policy. In the face
of continued increases in unemployment, payment for water and other utilities has the
potential to undo government’s good reputation for water delivery.

18
The method of ensuring sufficient water supply, and its management, will increasingly
become a political battleground in South Africa. Water Affairs director-general Mike
Muller says South Africa is near the end of its dam-building programme. However,
there are big projects proposed elsewhere in southern Africa that could possibly be
halted by activists who could bring pressure on funding agencies such as the World
Bank.

Greef says her group will campaign against any proposed new dams in southern
Africa. According to Greef, rather than rely on new dam construction, people should
ensure that water is used wisely at all times, not only during dry spells. Another
battleground for her group is over the privatisation of water supply; this, she insists, is
best handled in the public interest by accountable government.

There is increasing hope of advances in technology that will help to deal with water
shortages. Agricultural production takes up about 90 per cent of water consumed for
human purposes, according to the UN. In order to lower agricultural demand for water,
the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute is researching ways of
obtaining “more crop per drop” through the development of drought-resistant crops,
as well as through better water management techniques. One of the institute’s
research sites is the Limpopo River basin. According to the institute’s director-general,
Frank Rijsbereman, rice growers in China use a quarter of the water per ton of produce
compared to those in South Africa. The institute hopes the “green revolution” in crop
productivity will soon be matched by the “blue revolution” in improving water
utilisation in agriculture, a solution that could also help South Africa.

Questions 27 - 34

Choose the correct person for each statement. Write the appropriate initials for each
answer.

27 This person says water needs to be utilised more prudently by some people.

28 This person claims South Africa has almost completed its plans for building dams.

29 This person says water costs per household have prevented universal access in
South Africa.

30 This person believes the World Summit in Johannesburg will soon have its aims on
hygiene agreed among all participants.

31 This person claims faster development of water supply in South Africa is limited by
the facilities of community administrations.

32 This person states that farmers need to learn how to use water more efficiently.

33 This person believes that letting private companies operate the water supply will
have negative consequences.

19
34 This person states that a number of different factors contribute to water scarcity
and water stress.

MM Mike Muller

FR Frank Rijsbereman

ME Mark Evans

LG Liane Greef

GB Graham Bennetts

Questions 35 - 40

Choose TRUE if the statement agrees with the information given in the text,
choose FALSE if the statement contradicts the information, or choose NOT GIVEN if
there is no information on this.

35 International disputes over shared natural water sources could lead to people
getting killed.

36 Water stress is a more serious problem than water scarcity

37 Vocal environment activists were arrested at the World Summit.

38 People need sanitation facilities to ensure a clean water supply is sustainable.

39 The World Summit produced many good ideas, but the government of South Africa
has had difficulty putting them into practice.

40 Growing rice in South Africa requires significantly less water than it does in China.

20
1. iii
2. vii
3. i
4. v
5. ix
6. the fuel load
7. in the afternoon
8. embers
9. backfires
10. ratio
11. the wind
12. crown fires
13. uphill
14. True
15. Not Given
16. True
17. False
18. True
19. True
20. False
21. G
22. D
23. B
24. E
25. C
26. A
27. LG
28. MM
29. LG
30. ME
31. GB
32. FR
33. LG
34. ME
35. True
36. False

21