Professional Documents
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Excerpt PDF
Excerpt PDF
Test 1
LIS T E NI NG
Example
10
Listening
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Test 1
Visitors should
• take care not to harm any 11
• not touch any 12
• wear 13
• not bring 14 into the farm, with certain exceptions
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Listening
Questions 15–20
F
G H
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Test 1
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Listening
28 Greg and Lisa decide that in their own project, they will compare the effects of
A two different writing tasks.
B a writing task with an oral task.
C two different oral tasks.
29 The main finding of Smolinsky’s research was that class teamwork activities
A were most effective when done by all-women groups.
B had no effect on the performance of men or women.
C improved the results of men more than of women.
30 What will Lisa and Greg do next?
A talk to a professor
B observe a science class
C look at the science timetable
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Test 1
Ocean Biodiversity
Biodiversity hotspots
• areas containing many different species
• important for locating targets for 31
• at first only identified on land
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Listening
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Test 1
R EADI NG
R E A D ING P A S S A GE 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 people by then. An Vertical farms would need to be
estimated 109 hectares of new land efficient, cheap to construct and
(about 20% larger than Brazil) will be safe to operate. If successfully
needed to grow enough 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 world’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-
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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 greatly 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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