Test 40

III. In this part of the test, you are going to read a short text, then answer the questions following each
text by choosing the best answer to each question A,B,C or D. (10pts.)

Early mariners gradually developed ways of observing and recording in their journals their position, the
distances and directions they traveled, the currents of wind and water, and the hazards and havens they
encountered. The information in these journals enabled them to find their way home and, for them or
their successors, to repeat and extend the recorded voyages. Each new observation could be added to an
ever-increasing body of reliable information.

Ship captains and navigators were not concerned about running in to other vessels, but as heavy traffic
developed along shipping routes, avoiding such collisions became a serious matter. In all fields of
navigation, keeping a safe distance between ships moving in different directions at different speeds
became as important as knowing how to reach one’s destination.

The larger the ship, the easier it is to see, but the larger a ship, the more time it requires to change its
speed or direction. When many ships are in a small area, an action taken by one ship to avoid colliding
with another might endanger a third. In busy seaports, such as Hamburg and New York, this problem has
been solved by assigning incoming and outgoing ships to separate lanes, which are clearly marked and
divided by the greatest practical distance.

The speed of jet airplanes make collision a deadly possibility. Even if two pilots see one another in time
to begin evasive action, their maneuvers may be useless if either pilot incorrectly predicts the other’s
move. Ground-based air traffic controllers assign aircraft to flight paths that keep airplanes a safe
distance from one another.

When steam engines began to replace sails during the first half of the nineteenth century, a ship’s
navigator had to compute fuel consumption as well as course and location. Today, in airplanes as well as
in ships, large amounts of fuel needed for long trips, reduce the cargo capacity, and economy requires
that its consumption be kept to a minimum.

In modern air and sea navigation, a schedule has to be met. A single voyage or flight is only one link in a
complicated and coordinated transportation network that carries goods and people from any starting
place to any chosen destination. Modern navigation selects a ship’s course, avoids collision with other
moving ships, minimizes fuel consumption, and follows an established timetable.

1. What is the main topic of the passage?

A. Historical records of navigation B. Airplane navigation in Europe

C. Schedules and shipping long distances D. The growing importance of navigation

2. Which of the choices is closest in meaning to the word “hazards” as used paragraph 1?

A. Dangerous obstacles B. Safe seaports

C. Whales and large fish D. Inaccurate navigation

3. Which of the following has the same meaning as the word “collisions” as used in paragraph 2?
 A. Other vessels B. Running into C. Avoiding such D.
Serious matter

4. Which of the following does the word “it” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A. Ship B. Time C. Speed

5. Where can the following sentence be added to the passage?

In fact, many harbors were burned down from fires begun as a result of ships’

colliding in port.

A. After the word “encountered” in paragraph 1

B. At the end of paragraph 2

C. After the word “third” in paragraph 3

D. After the word “possibility” in paragraph 4

6. How are ships kept apart in the ports of Hamburg and New York?

A. The port controllers guide ship captains by radio.

B. Incoming and outgoing ships are assigned to clearly marked lanes.

C. Ships are not allowed to change their course or their speed while in port.

D. Captains use their journals to determine the hazards in port.

7. What does the author imply about the speed of jet airplanes?

A. Air traffic is now safer than it was with planes with piston-driven engines.

B. Radio communication between ships and planes help schedules.

C. Collisions of jet airplanes almost always result in the deaths of passengers and crew.

D. pilots are now able to predict evasive maneuvers that others will take.

8. What can be inferred about fuel consumption in the nineteenth century?

A. A ship’s captain had to decide how many sails would be used on a ship.

B. A navigator had to determine how much fuel a ship needed for a voyage.

C. A large amount of fuel made room for extra cargo space.

D. A journal was kept about the amount of coal a steam engine used during a voyage.

9. Look at the word “timetable” in the last sentence of the passage. Which of the following words has
the same meaning?
 A. Schedule B. Network C. Navigation
D. Established

10. Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?

A. Information in mariners’ journals is better than modern navigation techniques.

B. Collisions in the air are more dangerous than those at sea.

C. Mariners today have to compute more things than those in the past did.

D. Air traffic controllers use the same navigation techniques as sea captains.

IV. Read the text and do the following tasks. (10pts)

Choose the most suitable headings ( i –vi ) for paragraph A, B, C and D

List of Headings

i The reaction of the Inuit community to climate change

ii Understanding of climate change remains limited

iii Alternative sources of essential supplies

iv Respect for Inuit opinion grows

v A healthier choice of food

vi A difficult landscape

vii Negative effects on well-being

viii Alarm caused by unprecedented events in the Arctic

ix The benefits of an easier existence

Example Paragraph A Answer viii

Paragraph B ___________

Paragraph C ___________

Paragraph D ___________

Paragraph E ___________

Paragraph F ___________

Climate change and the Inuit

Unusual incidents are being reported across the Arctic. Inuit families going off on snowmobiles to
prepare their summer hunting camps have found themselves cut off from home by a sea of mud,
following early thaws. There are reports of igloos losing their insulating properties as the snow drips and
refreezes, of lakes draining into the sea as permafrost melts, and sea ice breaking up earlier than usual,
carrying seals beyond the reach of hunters. Climate change may still be a rather abstract idea to most of
us, but in the Arctic it is already having dramatic effects - if summertime ice continues to shrink at its
present rate, the Arctic Ocean could soon become virtually ice-free in summer. The knock-on effects are
likely to include more warming, cloudier skies, increased precipitation and higher sea levels. Scientists
are increasingly keen to find out what's going on because they consider the Arctic the ‘canary in the
mine’ for global warming - a warning of what's in store for the rest of the world.

For the Inuit the problem is urgent. They live in precarious balance with one of the toughest
environments on earth. Climate change, whatever its causes, is a direct threat to their way of life.
Nobody knows the Arctic as well as the locals, which is why they are not content simply to stand back
and let outside experts tell them what's happening. In Canada, where the Inuit people are jealously
guarding their hard-won autonomy in the country's newest territory, Nunavut, they believe their best
hope of survival in this changing environment lies in combining their ancestral knowledge with the best
of modern science. This is a challenge in itself.

The Canadian Arctic is a vast, treeless polar desert that's covered with snow for most of the year. Venture
into this terrain and you get some idea of the hardships facing anyone who calls this home. Farming is
out of the question and nature offers meagre pickings. Humans first settled in the Arctic a mere 4,500
years ago, surviving by exploiting sea mammals and fish. The environment tested them to the limits:
sometimes the colonists were successful, sometimes they failed and vanished. But around a thousand
years ago, one group emerged that was uniquely well adapted to cope with the Arctic environment.
These Thule people moved in from Alaska, bringing kayaks, sleds, dogs, pottery and iron tools. They are
the ancestors of today's Inuit people.

Life for the descendants of the Thule people is still harsh. Nunavut is 1.9 million square kilometers of
rock and ice, and a handful of islands around the North Pole. It's currently home to 2,500 people, all but
a handful of them indigenous Inuit. Over the past 40 years, most have abandoned their nomadic ways
and settled in the territory's 28 isolated communities, but they still rely heavily on nature to provide food
and clothing. Provisions available in local shops have to be flown into Nunavut on one of the most costly
air networks in the world, or brought by supply ship during the few ice-free weeks of summer. It would
cost a family around £7,000 a year to replace meat they obtained themselves through hunting with
imported meat. Economic opportunities are scarce, and for many people state benefits are their only
income.

While the Inuit may not actually starve if hunting and trapping are curtailed by climate change, there has
certainly been an impact on people's health. Obesity, heart disease and diabetes are beginning to appear
in a people for whom these have never before been problems. There has been a crisis of identity as the
traditional skills of hunting, trapping and preparing skins have begun to disappear. In Nunavut's ‘igloo
and email’ society, where adults who were born in igloos have children who may never have been out on
the land, there's a high incidence of depression.

With so much at stake, the Inuit are determined to play a key role in teasing out the mysteries of climate
change in the Arctic. Having survived there for centuries, they believe their wealth of traditional
knowledge is vital to the task. And Western scientists are starting to draw on this wisdom, increasingly
referred to as ‘Inuit Qaujimajatugangit’, or IQ. ‘In the early days scientists ignored us when they came up
here to study anything. They just figured these people don't know very much so we won't ask them,’
says John Amagoalik, an Inuit leader and politician. ‘But in recent years IQ has had much more credibility
and weight.’ In fact it is now a requirement for anyone hoping to get permission to do research that they
consult the communities, who are helping to set the research agenda to reflect their most important
concerns. They can turn down applications from scientists they believe will work against their interests,
or research projects that will impinge too much on their daily lives and traditional activities.

Some scientists doubt the value of traditional knowledge because the occupation of the Arctic doesn't go
back far enough. Others, however, point out that the first weather stations in the far north date back just
50 years. There are still huge gaps in our environmental knowledge, and despite the scientific onslaught,
many predictions are no more than best guesses. IQ could help to bridge the gap and resolve the
tremendous uncertainty about how much of what we're seeing is natural capriciousness and how much
is the consequence of human activity.

Complete the summary of paragraphs C, D, E below.