D The final area to be investigated was the basin of the River Humber. At the end of the last ice age, around 9000 BC, the melting ice formed a large but short-lived lake named Lake Humber, stretching from Hull across nearly to Doncaster, and up to York. In the following millennia the sea level rose, the Humber estuary became tidal, and the former Lake Humber became a very extensive peat marsh. The major site for preservation has been at Sutton Common. This was the site of an early Iron Age marsh fort, that was excavated by Sheffield University from 1987 to 1993.
E How are we to preserve the dramatic archaeological remains hidden in our wetlands? By themselves, archaeologists are unlikely to have sufficient political clout to do much preservation. We are far more likely to be successful if we join other interests, notably wildlife and bird lovers.In particular we need to look at the "Ramsar" Convention on Wetlands. This was established at a conference held at Ramsar in Iran in 1971, and now there are numerous "Ramsar sites" all over the world where wetlands are preserved—the equivalent of World Heritage Sites. Unfortunately the Ramsar Convention focuses on safeguarding the natural environment of wetlands and their biodiversity. Archaeology is not directly included in the convention, but archaeologists are working hard to ensure that when information sheets are drawn up for for Ramsar sites, archaeological interests are included.
Questions 1-5
The reading passage "Wetland Archaeology" has five sections A-E. In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet write the appropriate letter to show in which section you can find a discussion of the following points. You may use any letter more than once.
1 International conservation efforts
2 Techniques for preserving wetland sites
3 Evidence of industrial activity
4 Clues to ancient religion
5 Ancient road-building techniques
Questions 6-11
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in the reading passage? In boxes 6-11 on your answer sheet write:
T if the statement agrees with the writer
F if the statement does not agree with the writer
NG if there is no information about this in the passage
6 Humans settled in Britain at the end of the Ice Age.
7 The Fenland sites date from Roman times.
8 The oldest road in the world is in Britain.
9 Archeological relics deteriorate more rapidly in water.
10 Archaeologists are the driving force in preservation work.
11 The formation of peat has played a major role in preserving archaeological relics.
Questions 12-14
Use information from the reading passage to complete the following sentences. USE NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER. Write your answers in boxes 12-14 on your answer sheet.
12 Many wetland sites have been discovered accidentally by people .
13 The Fenland is unusual for its numerous .
14 The age of the Solway Cow was found by the method of .
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-28 which are based on Reading Passage 2.
Is There Water on Mars?
1. A large number of photographs taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft suggest that even today water may be flowing up from the interior of Mars, and streaming onto the surface—dramatically increasing the likelihood that at least part of the planet is biologically alive. "If this proves to be the case," said Ed Weiler, of NASA's Office of Space science, "it has profound implications for the possibility of life ［on Mars］."
2. Finding liquid water on Mars' surface has never been easy—mostly because it simply can't exist there. The modern Martian atmosphere has barely 1% the density of the Earth's, and the planet's average temperature hovers around —55 degrees C. In an environment as harsh as this, any water that did appear would either vaporize into space or freeze solid. What scientists who studying Mars have always been looking for instead are clues that there was water in the planet's distant past: In fact, they admit that there may have been oceans at one time on Mars.
3. The 65,000 images, which the Surveyor has beamed home since it was launched in 1998, show plenty of channels and terraces on the surface of Mars. But a handful of the pictures took the scientists by surprise. Besides looking fairly new, the channels are mainly located near the poles of Mars, where the temperature is coldest. Scientists have long assumed that if underground water was going to bubble up on Mars, it would have to do so somewhere in the comparatively balmy equatorial zones, where temperatures at high noon in midsummer may approach 20 degrees C. Moreover, the channels are all carved into the cold, shaded sides of slopes.
4. Paradoxically, this finding may increase the chances that the gullies are water-related. Any water that appeared on the sunny sides of hills would be likely to evaporate almost instantly. Moisture that seeped out in the shade would form a temporary crust of ice that would last only until the pressure of upwelling water behind it caused it to burst. When it did, there would be a sudden downward gush that would leave precisely the kind of clear-cut channel Surveyor spotted. If such features were discovered on Earth, said Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Surveyor's camera system, "there would be no question that water would be associated with them."
5. However, there are alternative explanations for these channels and ridges.
One school of thought maintains that they could have been caused by "rivers" of silicon dust. The theory goes that millions of years ago, when the molten mass of Mars cooled down, the fast cooling of the surface lava produced extremely small silicon particles. It has been proved that Martian soils contain a large amount of silicon. These particles would then have bonded with the methane gas which was also produced by the cooling process due to the action of ultraviolet light. The silicon combined with methane would then have flowed in much the same way as rivers—from high to low areas. Over a long period of time, the flow would disintegrate rock and form channels or gullies, like those photographed by the Surveyor.
6. Another theory is that the features which seem to be evidence of the action of water —whether oceans or rivers—are more likely linked to the planet's volcanoes. Paul Withers of the University of Arizona and Gregory Neumann of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, think that there is a closer correlation between the sizes of the terraces and seismic activity than the formation of ocean shore lines. They explained that the surface crust of Mars is not formed of a network of plates, like the Earth's, which move over time. So Martian volcanoes grew much higher than those on Earth, putting tremendous stress on the crust, and generating the ridges and channels seen in the Surveyor photographs. "In our future work," said Withers and Neumann, "we intend to study the terraces further in order to ascertain what the Martian crust and lithosphere were like at the time the seismic activity led to the formation of the volcanoes."
7. For NASA, the new findings couldn't have come at a better time. After the recent spectacular failures of two unmanned Mars probes, the agency's entire planetary exploration program came under fire. The possibility of a wet Mars, however, suggests that not only might the planet be home to indigenous life, it could also more easily support human life. Visiting astronauts would need water for a variety of purposes, including manufacturing air and perhaps even rocket fuel. Pumping up water available on Mars rather than hauling supplies from earth could dramatically slash the cost of a mission. All this, NASA hopes, will encourage the reluctant Congress to give the green light to future Mars missions, both manned and unmanned.
Questions 15-17
Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write it in boxes 15-17 on your answer sheet.
15. Scientists studying Mars have always looked for
A evidence of the presence of water on the planet's surface.
B signs that water was once present on the planet's surface.
C indications of intelligent life.
D gullies carved out by rivers of silicon.
16. The formations discovered by the Mars Global Survey were surprising because
A they were carved out by flows of silicon.
B they have profound implications for the possibility of life.
C they are located near the equator of Mars.
D they appear in the coldest parts of the planet.
17. The new findings may benefit NASA by
A providing water for astronauts landing on Mars.
B disproving the "rivers of silicon" theory.
C persuading Congress to allow more Mars missions.
D making people forget about the previous failed Mars missions.
Questions 18-20
Answer the questions below USING NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS. Write your answers in boxes 18-20 on your answer sheet.
18 How long has the Mars Global Surveyor been gathering data?
19 According to the "silicon rivers" theory, what destabilized the silicon?
20 What distinguishes the Earth's crust from that of Mars?
Questions 21-28
Using the information in the passage, identify the following. In boxes 21-28 on your answer sheet, write
LW if the statement refers to liquid water
VW if the statement refers to vaporised water
O if the statement refers to oceans
S if the statement refers to silicon
V if the statement refers to volcanoes
T if the statement refers to terraces
Note: Each letter may be used more than once.
Example Answer
Martian soils contain a lot of this. S
21. These could have existed a long time ago on Mars.
22. This would be found on the sunny side of Martian hills.
23. This cannot exist on the surface of Mars.
24. Paul Withers and Gregory Neumann intend to study these further.
25. These are much bigger on Mars than on Earth.
26. If channels like the Martian ones were discovered on Earth, they would indicate the presence of this.
27. This probably resulted from fast cooling of surface lava.
28. The forms of these indicate a seismic origin.
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 29-42 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.
Saving the Sight of the Third World
There are four leading causes of avoidable blindness—cataracts, trachoma, "river blindness" and "childhood blindness". They account for an astonishing 80% of the blindness cases worldwide, and all of them are common in Third World countries, mainly because of poor hygiene and diet standards. Western governments have been reluctant to extend aid in this regard, and there is a general impression that little is being done. However, a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are working in this field in Third World countries, and making encouraging progress. The leader in this field is the International Eye Foundation (IEF).
Since it was set up in 1995, with the aim of eventually eliminating the four eye diseases, the IEF has saved the sight of over 14,000 children in 13 countries on five continents exceeding the organization's expectations. In addition, over 200,000 children have benefited from eye examinations and treatment. Funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the IEF's "Seeing 2000" project aims to increase and improve ocular surgery for children by offering small grants to indigenous charity hospitals and eye care organizations. An underlying strength built into the program is its flexibility—locally determined needs are met with locally designed strategies. Moreover by using volunteers, both local and international, the expense of providing eye care can be kept to the minimum.
Meanwhile, the IEF has launched a program called Sightreach Prevention in Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. This program is divided into Sightreach Surgical, which provides affordable ophthalmic medical and surgical equipment and supplies to local doctors and hospitals to help lower surgical costs, and Sightreach Management, which strengthens the capacity for financial self-sufficiency of eye care providers through improved management practices and services. The IEF works closely with ministries of health and indigenous NGOs.
One of the key parts of the work is the provision of Vitamin A. This vitamin is essential for healthy eyesight and general eye health. Xerophthalmia, a blinding eye condition caused by Vitamin A deficiency, is the leading cause of blindness in children in the developing world. It causes severe dryness of the eye, resulting in the cornea at the front of the eye becoming ulcerated and scarred. Blindness follows. Moreover, more than half the children under age five who go blind from xerophthalmia die within a year—not from xerophthalmia, but from complications associated with Vitamin A deficiency. These include measles, acute respiratory diseases and diarrheal diseases. The IEF's Child Survival and Vitamin A Deficiency Control programs have distributed Vitamin A capsules to tens of thousands of children in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi, Guatemala and Honduras. It intends to supply vitamin A capsules to some 51,000 children in Bolivia soon.
According to the World Health Organization's Dr. John O'Neill in Eritrea, population increases and people living longer will result in significant increases in the number of people with cataracts. The IEF is striving to meet this challenge through Sightreach Surgical by reducing the expense of cataract surgery. By making ophthalmic products available at lower cost, eye care providers in economically disadvantaged regions will be able to restore sight for many people for whom this service was simply out of reach. In addition, the IEF's Gifts In Kind program provides donated supplies, so that the truly indigent continue to receive care. Ironically, the doctors say, it is the lack not just of nutrition and medical care, but also of such basic things as sunglasses and hats with brims that contributes to the high incidence of cataracts in places such as Africa.
The IEF is also a pioneer in "river blindness" control. The technical name of this disease is onchocerciasis. Besides distributing medicines, the IEF educates health officials and community leaders. As a result, the threat of "river blindness", especially in Cameroon and Malawi, is receding. IEF experts point out that adherence to basic hygiene standards goes a long way toward reducing the incidence of "river blindness" and other avoidable eye diseases.
The IEF's key ally in the battle against eye diseases in Bolivia is the Centro de Promocion Agropecuaria Campesina (CEPAC). CEPAC has launched a 5-year program focussing on "childhood blindness", one manifestation of which is Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). This condition occurs when an infant is born prematurely and/or underweight, and blood vessel growth in the eye becomes abnormal. Premature infants are often put into incubators to give their immature lungs extra oxygen. High levels of oxygen can cause the blood vessels in the eyes' retinas to grow abnormally. When the oxygen is withdrawn, the abnormal vessels die leaving scar tissue leading to detachment of the retina. Despite the prevailing view that nothing can be done about this, it has been shown that if premature infants in incubators are carefully monitored, the symptoms can be detected in time to save the infant. Besides, laser treatment can successfully reverse ROP. Many developing countries, as well as in the former Soviet bloc, which now shares their eye problems, are acquiring the resources to develop neonatal units with incubators, and can now save more and smaller infants.
