Test 1
READING
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.
Crop-growing skyscrapers
By the year 2050, nearly 80% of buildings in which food crops are
the Earth's population will live in grown in environmentally controlled
urban centres. Applying the most conditions. Situated in the heart of
conservative estimates to current urban centres, they would drastically
demographic trends, the human reduce the amount of transportation
population will increase by about required to bring food to consumers.
three billion �eople by then. An Vertical farms would need to be
estimated 10 hectares of new land efficient, cheap to construct and
(about 20% larger than Brazil) will be safe to operate. If successfully
needed to grow enoµgh food to feed implemented, proponents claim,
them, if traditional farming methods vertical farms offer the promise
continue as they are practised today. of urban renewal, sustainable
At present, throughout the world, production of a safe and varied
over 80% of the land that is suitable food supply (through year-round
for raising crops is in use. Historically, production of all crops), and the
some 15% of that has been laid waste eventual repair of ecosystems that
by poor management practices. What have been sacrificed for horizontal
can be done to ensure enough food farming.
for the worid's population to live on?
It took humans 10,000 years to
The concept of indoor farming is learn how to grow most of the crops
not new, since hothouse production we now take for granted. Along the
of tomatoes and other produce has way, we despoiled most of the land
been in vogue for some time. What we worked, often turning verdant,
is new is the urgent need to scale natural ecozones into semi-arid
up this technology to accommodate deserts. Within that same time frame,
another three billion people. Many we evolved into an urban species, in
believe an entirely new approach to which 60% of the human population
indoor farming is required, employing now lives vertically in cities. This
cutting-edge technologies. One such means that, for the majority, we
proposal is for the 'Vertical Farm'. humans have shelter from the
The concept is of multi-storey elements, yet we subject our food-
18
Reading
bearing plants to the rigours of the the efficiency of the system. Single
great outdoors and can do no more storey greenhouses have the benefit
than hope for a good weather year. of natural overhead light: even so,
However, more often than not now, many still need artificial lighting.
due to a rapidly changing climate, A multi-storey facility with no natural
that is not what happens. Massive overhead light would require far
floods, long droughts, hurricanes and more. Generating enough light could
severe monsoons take their toll each be prohibitively expensive, unless
year, destroying millions of tons of cheap, renewable energy is available,
valuable crops. and this appears to be rather a future
aspiration than a likelihood for the
The supporters of vertical farming near future.
claim many potential advantages for
the system. For instance, crops would One variation on vertical farming that
be produced all year round, as they has been developed is to grow plants
would be kept in artificially controlled, in stacked trays that move on rails.
optimum growing conditions. There Moving the trays allows the plants to
would be no weather-related crop get enough sunlight. This system is
failures due to droughts, floods or already in operation. and works well
pests. All the food could be grown within a single-storey greenhouse
organically, eliminating the need for with light reaching it from above: it
herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers. is not certain, however, that it can be
The system would gre9tly reduce the made to work without that overhead
incidence of many infectious diseases natural light.
that are acquired at the agricultural
interface. Although the system would Vertical farming is an attempt to
consume energy, it would return address the undoubted problems
energy to the grid via methane that we face in producing enough
generation from composting non food for a growing population. At the
edible parts of plants. It would also moment, though, more needs to be
dramatically reduce fossil fuel use, done to reduce the detrimental impact
by cutting out the need for tractors, it would have on the environment,
ploughs and shipping. particularly as regards the use of
energy. While it is possible that
A major drawback of vertical farming, much of our food will be grown in
however, is that the plants would skyscrapers in future, most experts
require artificial light. Without it, currently believe it is far more likely
those plants nearest the windows that we will simply use the space
would be exposed to more sunlight available on urban rooftops.
and grow more quickly, reducing
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Test 1
Questions 1-7
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.
Indoor farming
1 Some food plants, including ....................... are already grown indoors.
2 Vertical farms would be located in ......................• meaning that there would be less
need to take them long distances to customers.
3 Vertical farms could use methane from plants and animals to produce ...................... .
4 The consumption of ...................... would be cut because agricultural vehicles would be
unnecessary.
5 The fact that vertical farms would need ...................... light is a disadvantage.
6 One form of vertical farming involves planting in ...................... which are not fixed.
7 The most probable development is that food will be grown on ...................... in towns
and cities.
Questions 8-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
8 Methods for predicting the Earth's population have recently changed.
9 Human beings are responsible for some of the destruction to food-producing land.
10 The crops produced in vertical farms will depend on the season.
11 Some damage to food crops is caused by climate change.
12 Fertilisers will be needed for certain crops in vertical farms.
13 Vertical farming will make plants less likely to be affected by infectious diseases.
20
Reading
READING
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.
Raising the Mary Rose
How a sixteenth-century warship was recovered from the seabed
On 19 July 1545, English and French all of the starboard half survived intact.
fleets were engaged in a sea battle off During the seventeenth and eighteenth
the coast of southern England in the centuries, the entire site became covered
area of water called the Solent, between with a layer of hard grey clay, which
Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. Among minimised further erosion.
the English vessels was a warship by the
name of Mary Rose. Built in Portsmouth Then, on 16 June 1836, some fishermen
some 35 years earlier, she had had a long in the Solent found that their equipment
and successful fighting career, and was was caught on an underwater obstruction,
a favourite of King Henry VIII. Accounts which turned out to be the Mary Rose.
of what happened to the ship vary: while Diver John Deane happened to be
witnesses agree that she was not hit exploring another sunken ship nearby,
by the French, some maintain that she and the fishermen approached him,
was outdated, overladen and sailing too asking him to free their gear. Deane dived
low in the water, others that she was down, and found the equipment caught
mishandled by undisciplined crew. What on a timber protruding slightly from the
is undisputed, however, is that the Mary seabed. Exploring further, he uncovered
Rose sank into.the Solent that day, taking several other timbers and a bronze
at least 500 men with her. After the battle, gun. Deane continued diving on the
attempts were made to recover the ship, site intermittently until 1840, recovering
but these failed. several more guns, two bows, various
timbers, part of a pump and various other
The Mary Rose came to rest on the small finds.
seabed, lying on her starboard (right) side
at an angle of approximately 60 degrees. The Mary Rose then faded into obscurity
The hull (the body of the ship) acted as for another hundred years. But in 1965,
a trap for the sand and mud carried by military historian and amateur diver
Solent currents. As a result, the starboard Alexander McKee, in conjunction with the
side filled rapidly, leaving the exposed British Sub-Aqua Club, initiated a project
port (left) side to be eroded by marine called 'Solent Ships'. While on paper
organisms and mechanical degradation. this was a plan to examine a number of
Because of the way the ship sank, nearly known wrecks in the Solent, what McKee
41
Test 2
really hoped for was to find the Mary hull was an open shell. This led to an
Rose. Ordinary search techniques proved important decision being taken: namely to
unsatisfactory, so McKee entered into carry out the lifting operation in three very
collaboration with Harold E. Edgerton, distinct stages. The hull was attached to
professor of electrical engineering at the a lifting frame via a network of bolts and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. lifting wires. The problem of the hull being
In 1967, Edgerton's side-scan sonar sucked back downwards into the mud was
systems revealed a large, unusually overcome by using 12 hydraulic jacks.
shaped object, which McKee believed These raised it a few centimetres over a
was the Mary Rose. period of several days, as the lifting frame
rose slowly up its four legs. It was only
Further excavations revealed stray when the hull was hanging freely from
pieces of timber and an iron gun. But the lifting frame, clear of the seabed and
the climax to the operation came when, the suction effect of the surrounding mud,
on 5 May 1971, part of the ship's frame that the salvage operation progressed to
was uncovered. McKee and his team the second stage. In this stage, the lifting
now knew for certain that they had found frame was fixed to a hook attached to a
the wreck, but were as yet unaware crane, and the hull was lifted completely
that it also housed a treasure trove of clear of the seabed and transferred
beautifully preserved artefacts. Interest underwater into the lifting cradle. This
in the project grew. and in 1979, The required precise positioning to locate the
Mary Rose Trust was formed, with Prince legs into the 'stabbing guides' of the lifting
Charles as its President and Dr Margaret cradle. The lifting cradle was designed
Rule its Archaeological Director. The to fit the hull using archaeological survey
decision whether or not to salvage the drawings, and was fitted with air bags to
wreck was not an easy one, although provide additional cushioning for the hull's
an excavation in 1978 had shown that it delicate timber framework. The third and
might be possible to raise the hull. While final stage was to lift the entire structure
the original aim was to raise the hull if at into the air, by which time the hull was
all feasible, the operation was not given also supported from below. Finally, on 11
the go-ahead _until January 1982, when all October 1982, millions of people around
the necessary information was available. the world held their breath as the timber
skeleton of the Mary Rose was lifted clear
An important factor in trying to salvage of the water, ready to be returned home to
the Mary Rose was that the remaining Portsmouth.
42
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www.irLanguage.com Reading
Questions 1-4
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1 There is some doubt about what caused the Mary Rose to sink.
2 The Mary Rose was the only ship to sink in the battle of 19 July 1545.
3 Most of one side of the Mary Rose lay undamaged under the sea.
4 Alexander McKee knew that the wreck would contain many valuable
historical objects.
Questions &-8
Look at the following statements (Questions �8) and the list of dates below.
Match each statement with the correct date, A-G.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes �8 on your answer sheet.
5 A search for the Mary Rose was launched.
6 One person's exploration of the Mary Rose site stopped.
7 It was agreed that the hull of the Mary Rose should be raised.
8 The site of the Mary Rose was found by chance.
List of Dates
A 1836 E 1971
B 1840 F 1979
C 1965 G 1982
D 1967
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43
Test 2
Questions 9-13
Label the diagram below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9--13 on your answer sheet.
Raising the hull of the Mary Rose: Stages one and two
9 ...................... attached
to hull by wires
10 ...................... to
prevent hull being
sucked into mud
crane
hook
hull is lowered into
12 ......................
13 ...................... used as extra
protection for the hull
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