DISKUSI

16A
LITERASI BAHASA INGGRIS

For all their great diversity of shapes and sizes, glaciers can be divided into two essential types: valley
glaciers, which flow downhill from mountains and are shaped by the constraints of topography, and ice sheets,
which flow outward in all directions from domelike centres of accumulated ice to cover vast expanses of terrain.
Whatever their type is, most glaciers are remnants of great shrouds of ice that covered the earth eons ago. In a few
of these glaciers, the oldest ice is very ancient indeed: the age of parts of the Antarctic sheet may exceed 500,000
years.
Glaciers are born in rocky wombs above the snow line, where there is sufficient snowfall and summer cold for
snow to survive the annual melting. The long gestation period of a glacier begins with the accumulation and
gradual transformation of snowflakes. Soon after they reach the ground, complex snowflakes are reduced to
compact, roughly spherical crystals, the basic components of a glacier. The new layers of snow that survive the
melting of the previous summer accumulate and squeeze out most of the air bubbles trapped within and between
the crystals below. This process of recrystallization continuous throughout the life of the glacier.
The length of time for the creation of glacier ice depends mainly upon the temperature and the rate of snowfall.
In Iceland, where snowfall is heavy and summer temperatures are high enough to produce plenty of melt water,
glacier ice may come into being in a relatively short time—say, ten years. In parts of Antarctica, where snowfall is
scant and the ice remains well below its melting temperature year-round, the process may require hundreds of
years.
The ice does not become a glacier until it moves under its own weight, and it cannot move significantly until
it reaches its critical thickness—the point at which the weight of the piled-up layers overcomes the internal
strength of the ice and the friction between the ice and the ground. The critical thickness is about 60 feet. The
fastest moving glaciers have been gauged at not much more than two and a half miles per year, and some cover
less than 1/100 inch in that same amount of time. But no matter how infinitesimal the flow is, movement is what
distinguishes a glacier from a mere mass of ice.
01. The passage mainly discusses ____ 04. The author organizes the ideas in the
(A) the size and shape of glaciers passage by ___
(B) the formation of glaciers (A) exemplifying the types of glaciers and
(C) why glaciers move pointing out where to find them
(D) two types of glaciers (B) dividing the diverse shapes, sizes of glaciers
(E) diversity of shapes and sizes of glaciers and the weight of snowfall that makes the
glaciers
02. What is the correct analogy for the development of (C) categorizing glaciers into two types and
glaciers? explaining how they come into being
(A) Snowflakes (D) dividing glaciers into two essential types and
(B) Ice cream stating that movement makes mass of ice
(C) Ice sheets immobile
(D) Birth (E) presenting facts that glaciers are born in
(E) Earth rocky womb

03. Which of the following must be included for 05. What is the main idea of the passage?
categorizing a mass of ice as a glacier? (A) The rate of snowfall turns into glaciers
(A) It must go uphill (B) Glaciers that do not melt become crystal
(B) It must feel cold snowflakes and evaporate as water vapours
(C) It must be located on a wide terrain (C) Snowflakes that do not melt despite summer
(D) It must move heat crystallize and become glaciers
(E) It must be a mass of ice (D) Snowflakes fall on the snow line as glaciers
and survive the summer and transform
(E) Glaciers are stationary at the point where
they come into being

Prosus INTEN - Diskusi - 16 A Literasi Bahasa Inggris 2023 1

 The research has been published in the latest edition of Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research and
Practice by QUT Adjunct Professor Eric Brymer, who is currently based at Leeds Beckett University in the UK, and
QUT Professor Robert Schweitzer.
Professors Brymer and Schweitzer said extreme sports were leisure activities in which a mismanaged mistake
or accident could result in death, such as BASE jumping, big wave surfing and solo rope free climbing.
“Extreme sports have developed into a worldwide phenomenon and we are witnessing an unprecedented
interest in and engagement with these activities,” Professor Brymer said.
“While participant numbers in many traditional team and individual sports such as golf, basketball and
racket sports seem to have declined over the past decade, participant numbers in extreme sports have surged,
making it a multi-million dollar industry.”
Professor Brymer said until now there had been a gross misunderstanding of what motivates people to take
part in extreme sports, with many writing it off as an activity for adrenalin junkies.
“Our research has shown people who engage in extreme sports are anything but irresponsible risk-takers
with a death wish. They are highly trained individuals with a deep knowledge of themselves, the activity and the
environment who do it to have an experience that is life enhancing and life changing,” he said.
“The experience is very hard to describe in the same way that love is hard to describe. It makes the participant
feel very alive where all senses seem to be working better than in everyday life, as if the participant is transcending
everyday ways of being and glimpsing their own potential.
“For example, BASE jumpers talk about being able to see all the colours and nooks and crannies of the rock as
they zoom past at 300km/h, or extreme climbers feel like they are floating and dancing with the rock. People talk
about time slowing down and merging with nature.”
Professor Schweitzer said understanding motivations for extreme sports were important to understanding
humans.
“Far from the traditional risk-focused assumptions, extreme sports participation facilitates more positive
psychological experiences and express human values such as humility, harmony, creativity, spirituality and a
vital sense of self that enriches everyday life,” Professor Schweitzer said.
He said because extreme sports participants found it hard to put their experiences into words, the research
project had taken a new approach to understanding the data.
“So rather than a theory-based approach which may make judgements that don’t reflect the lived experience
of extreme sports participants, we took a phenomenological approach to ensure we went in with an open mind,”
he said.
“This allowed us to focus on the lived-experience of extreme sport with the goal of explaining themes that are
consistent with participants’ experience.
“By doing this we were able to, for the first time, conceptualise such experiences as potentially representing
endeavours at the extreme end of human agency, that is making choices to engage in activity which may in certain
circumstances lead to death.
“However, such experiences have been shown to be affirmative of life and the potential for transformation.
“Extreme sport has the potential to induce non-ordinary states of consciousness that are at once
powerful and meaningful.
“These experiences enrich the lives of participants and provide a further glimpse into what it means
to be human.”

06. The passage mainly discusses ….
(A) how people do BASE jumping
(B) why people are interested in extreme sports
(C) the motivation behind people’s engaging in
extreme sports
(D) the danger of extreme sports
(E) human’s fondness of doing risky things
07. What do participants undergo while
performing one of extreme sports?
(A) The passage talks none of it
(B) Extreme sports have developed into
worldwide phenomenon
(C) Traditional sports such as golf and
basketball declines in popularity
(D) They experience kind of transformed wellbeing
(E) They easily put that into everyday words

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08. The main idea of the passage is that ….
(A) extreme sports have people merge with nature
(B) extreme sports provide a transcendental feeling
doing the extreme sports
(C) general public often cite correct reasons for why
people do extreme sports
(D) mismanaged mistake could result in death
during extreme winters
(E) participants are able to see all the colours and
nook and crannies of the rock performing
BASE jumping.
09. All of the following are true about the passage
EXCEPT ….
(A) the information in the passage results from
psychological research
(B) extreme sports can be put into lucrative business
(C) the researchers study only the motivation of the
extreme sport participants
(D) people wrongly assume the factors of why
people are doing such extreme sports
(E) love is hard to describe
11. What did the researchers do to study the experience
the participants had, doing the breath-taking
endeavour? They ….
(A) did laboratory research
(B) used phenomenological approach
(C) gave field interview
(D) talked to the participants
(E) asked the participants politely
12. Which statement is TRUE according to the passage?
(A) Extreme sports are an activity for adrenalin
junkies
(B) Extreme sports participants are risk-takers
with death wish
(C) Extreme sports participants do training
before carrying out the extreme sports
(D) A solo rope free climber does rock climbing all
by himself using no rope
(E) The participants seek fame

10. By stating “…as if the participant is transcending

everyday ways of being and glimpsing their
own potential. “…the writer wants to say which of
the following? The participants undergo … when
doing the extreme winter.
(A) a sense of happiness
(B) a transcendental feeling
(C) a transcendence
(D) a reformation
(E) a joyful euphoria
Generally, in order to be preserved in the fossil record, organisms must possess hard bodyparts such as shells
or bones. Soft, fleshy structures are quickly destroyed by predators or decayed by bacteria. Even hard parts left on
the surface for and length of time will be destroyed. Therefore, organisms must be buried rapidly to escape
destruction by the elements and to be protected agents of weathering and erosion Marine organisms thus are
better candidates for fossilization than those living on the land because the ocean is typically the site of
sedimentation, whereas the land is largely the site of erosion.
The beds of ancient lakes were also excellent sites for rapid burial of skeletal remains of freshwater organisms
and skeletons of other animals, including those of early humans Ancient swamps were particularly plentiful
with prolific growths of vegetation, which fossilized in abundance. Many animals became trapped in bogs
overgrown by vegetation. The environment of the swamps kept bacterial decay to a minimum, which greatly
aided in the preservation of plants and animals. The rapidly accumulating sediments in flood plains, deltas, and
stream channels buried freshwater organisms, along with other plants and animals that happened to fall into the
water.
Only a small fraction of all the organisms that have ever lived are preserved as fossils. Normally, the remains
of a plant or animal are completely destroyed through predation and decay. Although it seems that fossilization
is common for some organisms, for others it is almost impossible. For the most part, the remains of organisms are
recycled in the earth, which is fortunate because otherwise soil and water would soon become depleted of
essential nutrients. Also, most of the fossils exposed on Earth’s surface are destroyed by weathering processes.
This makes for an incomplete fossil record with poor or no representation of certain species. The best fossils are
those composed of unaltered remains. Generally, it is the inorganic hard parts, composed mostly of calcium
carbonate, that form the vast majority of unaltered fossils. Calcite and aragonite also contributed to a substantial
number of fossils of certain organisms.

Prosus INTEN - Diskusi - 16 A Literasi Bahasa Inggris 2023 3

13. According to the passage, an organism
without hard body parts
(A) is not worthy analysing
(B) is not likely to appear in the fossil record
(C) is not heavy enough to sink below the surface
(D) is not attractive to predators
(E) takes a long time to decay
14. The word “agents” in line 5 is closest in
meaning to
(A) prices
(B) dangers
(C) examples
(D) areas
(E) causes
15. Why are marine organisms good candidates
for fossilization?
(A) they are more visible than demons
(B) they have more fleshy structures than
land organisms.
(C) It is likely that they will be buried rapidly
(D) The water environment speeds the decay
caused by bacteria.
(E) It takes longer for them to be preserved.
16. The fact that the “land is largely the site of erosion”
(line 7) is significant because
(A) ice is more solid than rock
(B) erosion is less destructive than sedimentation
(C) fossils are most common in areas subject to
erosion
(D) erosion contributes to the destruction of skeletal
remains
(E) few organisms live in areas that experience
extensive erosion
Prosus INTEN - Diskusi - 16 A Literasi Bahasa Inggris 2023
17. According to the passage, why were the remains
of organisms trapped in swamps better preserved
for the fossil record than those that were not?
(A) the ocean is a mysterious phenomenon
(B) The swamp environment reduced the amount
of bacterial decay.
(C) Swamp waters contained higher amounts of
materials such as calcium carbonate.
(D) There were fewer sediments in swamps
than in other bodies of water.
(E) Swamp vegetation accelerated the
decomposition of organisms.
18. It can be inferred that flood plains, deltas, and
stream channels (lines 13-14) are similar in
which of the following ways?
(A) Cars and engines have been manufactured
there
(B) Animals rather than plants have been
preserved at such locations.
(C) Such locations are likely to be rich sources
of fossils.
(D) Fossilized human remains are only rarely
found in such locations.
(E) Rapid sedimentation in such locations makes
it difficult to locate fossils.
19. What is the author’s main point in paragraph 3?
(A) Fossils makes it possible to identify weathers
(B) Weathering makes it impossible to identify
many fossils.
(C) Many fossils have been buried forever
under the soil.
(D) Fossils provide a limited sample of ancient
organisms.
(E) It is easier to find the remains of plants
than animals.
20. Why does the author mention “aragonite” in
line 26
(A) To make myth about fossils
(B) To explain why fossils are rare
(C) To compare aragonite fossils and calcite fossils
(D) To argue that certain fossils are more
informative than others
(E) To illustrate the kinds of inorganic hard parts
that can form fossils
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