1 Since the first food found footing, ice ages have come and gone, and ocean and

atmospheric conditions have fluctuated wildly. The reef has seen many changes –
expanding and eroding, being defaced and re-inhabited at nature’s whim. “ A history
of the Great Barrier Reef,” Veron, a coral expert, says, “is a catalogue of disasters”
caused by planetary chaos. But they are disasters from which the reef has always 5
recovered. Today, new disasters endanger the reef and the prospect for recovery is
uncertain.
2 The relative quick shift in the world’s climate , scientists say, appears to be
devastating for reefs. In corals, warming temperature and increased exposure to the
sun’s violet rays lead to a stress response called bleaching-when the colourful algae in 10
coral cells become toxic and are expelled, turning the host animals skeletal white.
Fleshy seaweeds may then choke out the remains. Heat is also implicated in a 60-year
decline in ocean phytoplankton-the microscopic organisms that not only gobble
greenhouse gases but also feed, directly or indirectly, almost every other living thing
in the sea. Changes in sea level, either up or down, have a dire impact as well, 15
exposing shallow corals to too much sun or drowning them in deeper water, where
they are hidden from the light.
3 Of course, to the two million tourists who visit the reef each year, the promise
of an underwater paradise teeming with life is still fulfilled. But the blemishes are
there if you know where to look. The reef bears a two-mile-long scar from a collision 20
with a coal carrier in April of last year. Other ship groundings and occasional oil spills
have marred the habitat. Sediment plumes from flooding and nutrients from
agriculture and development also do very real damage to the ecosystem. The captain
of the boat who took me diving put it in this way : “Without the reef, there is nothing
out here but a whole lot of salty water.” To many locals, he adds, “ the reef is a loved 25
one whose loss is too sad to contemplate,”
4 The challenge scientists face is to keep the reef healthy despite rapid change. “
To fix a car engine, you need to know how it works,” says Veron . “ The same is true
for reefs.” He and others have been investigating how these ecosystem function so
that efforts to prevent damage can be doubly effective. High on the to-do list : 30
Determine the full impact of over-fishing. Traditionally, commercial fishermen could
work along the reef, even after 133 000 square miles of ocean habitat was designated
a marine park. But, with rising concern about the big take, the Australian government
in 2004 made a third of that area off-limits to all fishing – including for sport. The
biological recovery has been bigger and faster than expected : within two years after 35
the ban, for example, numbers of coral trout doubled on the once heavily fished reef.
5 Scientists also want to know what makes specific corals extra tenacious during
times of change. “ We know some reefs experience much more stressed conditions
than others,” says reef ecologist Peter Mumby. He says understanding how corals
recover from bleaching – and figuring how new polyps grow- can help designing 40
reserves. Even Veron acknowledges that coral survival is possible in the long term if
the onslaughts against reefs are halted – soon. Indeed one lesson is that despite
today’s weighty threats, the Great Barrier Reef will not crumble. It has, after all,
toughed it out through catastrophic change before. And all kinds of marine life are
around to help keep the reef whole.
1. The writer’s main intention in paragraph 1 is to
A. explain why in the past, the reef was able to recover
B. highlight the environmental disruptions threatening the reef
C. contrast the effects of disasters on the reef in the past and today

2. Which of the following is one of the new disasters ( line 6 ) endangering the reef ?
A. An increase in ocean temperature
B. A stress condition called bleaching
C. Microscopic organisms feeding on greenhouse gases

3. In paragraph 2, the writer develops his ideas mainly through

A. listing
B. exemplification
C. cause and effect

4. The following are blemishes ( line 19 ) except

A . oil spills
B. a long scars
C. a damaged habitat

5. The increase in the number of coral trout is due to

A. a healthier ecosystem
B. the creation of the marine park
C. the ban on fishing in protected zones

6. The word tenacious ( line 37 ) means

A. hardy
B. flexible
C. productive

7. Which of the following best summarises the writer’s belief about the future of the
Great Barrier Reef ?
A. It will thrive
B. It will recover with time
C. It will face more stress conditions