The world's water supplies are stretched to the limit due to escalating populations, rising agricultural use, poor management and the effects of global warming. Consequently the WWO is urging governments and institutions to take urgent action by:
1. Giving the water crisis high priority at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002.
2. Increasing investment in water supply sanitation and water resources to ensure that the basic needs of poorer communities are met before the luxury needs of the wealthy.
3. Increasing efforts to meet commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by 2012.
4. Reintroducing traditional methods of water conservation in poorer countries. For example, water harvesting could significantly help to meet India's water needs if land was set apart for rainfall collection.
Water is our most essential and basic requirement. Although water has been successfully harnessed for energy, irrigation and industry we are increasingly paying a high cost for it as people in poorer countries die from lack of a fresh, regular supply. Worldwide water shortages will begin to threaten food production in many countries too. By 2025 the amount of water needed for food production around the world will rise by 50%, due to population growth and higher standards of living. Poorer countries will face having to choose between using water for crop irrigation or domestic and industrial use. Consequently many may be forced to risk the vagaries of international markets by importing food. For the 1.3 billion people who live on $1 a day or less, high grain prices could quickly become life threatening.
The primary reasons for the water supply crisis are:
1. Lack of water regulation, management and investment by governments in poorer countries.
2. Global warming which causes deserts to expand, rivers to dry up, droughts to intensify and melting of the polar ice caps which may lead to the intrusion of salt water into freshwater supplies.
3. Unsustainable use of groundwater which occurs in every continent except Antarctica.
According to the WWO, even though water shortages and hosepipe bans exist in the UK, each person still has an average of 150 litres of water a day at their disposal—enough to wash 15 cars. In some of the poorest countries, however, people are surviving on a daily ration of less than a bucket of water.
Questions 15-18
Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage, answer the following questions. Write your answers in boxes 15-18 on your answer sheet.
15. By what year will water requirements for worldwide food production have risen by 50%?
16. Which countries will be least affected by a global water crisis?
17. What new phenomenon will increasingly be seen as people are forced to leave their homes in search of water?
18. During which period of time did world water consumption increase at twice the rate of population growth?
Questions 19-23
Do the following statements agree with the information in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 19-23 on your answer sheet write:
YES if the statement agrees with the information
NO if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage
19. The report states that falling world water supplies won't affect prosperous countries.
20. The WWO is urging governments to educate people on the importance of conserving water.
21. Global warming will help to create fresh water by melting the polar ice caps.
22. A major reason for the water supply problem in poorer countries is their governments' failure to control water usage.
23. Traditional methods of water conservation have contributed to the water crisis in poorer countries.
Questions 24-28
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 24-28 on your answer sheet.
24. Between 1900 and 1995 world water consumption increased .
A. sixty times
B. six-fold
C. at the same rate as the population
D. at six times the population rate
25. The world's water supplies are running out because.
A. there are too many people
B. of poor water management
C. the earth is getting hotter
D. all of the above
26. By 2025 many poorer countries may be forced to.
A. buy water
B. revert to traditional methods of water conservation
C. import food
D. stop farming
27. More than a billion people live.
A. on ten dollars a week
B. on a dollar a day or less
C. near Lake Chad
D. in Africa
28. Global warming causes.
A. drought
B. flooding
C. decreased evaporation rates
D. lower sea levels
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 29-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 on the following pages.
Changing the Way We Shop
The way we shop is being revolutionized by a network of smart tags or labels that contain tiny microchips and wireless batteries. The tags will be attached to every product we buy and provide information about their exact location, shelf life, directions for use and recycling. They'll also tell manufacturers when to restock store shelves and even entice consumers to buy products. The new tags will carry an electronic product code able to identify more than 268 million manufacturers, each with more than 1 million unique products. That's far more than today's bar codes, which can identify 100,000 manufacturers and types of products.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge is leading the smart-tag revolution. The MIT Auto-ID Center is developing the language and network structure its corporate partners will use in smart tags brimming with information about where an individual bottle of shampoo, for example, is at any given time in the distribution channel. That may translate into less product theft or counterfeiting, and more direct communication with consumers.
If the MIT center's vision comes true, by 2010, a consumer at work may be able to dial home via the Internet to see if his or her pantry contains all the ingredients to make spaghetti for dinner. If not, the pantry will pass along a list of missing items to the local supermarket, which will make sure the pasta and sauce are waiting in a shopping cart when the customer arrives.
Then, the shopper can peruse the cheese case, where parmesan cheese is always available, because smart shelves and labels on the cheese alert the manufacturer when it's time to restock. The hamburger also has a smart label telling whether it has been kept properly refrigerated, and even offering a spaghetti recipe.
Checkout is just as easy: Shoppers need only roll their carts out the door and pack their groceries. The intelligent shopping cart already will have tallied all the items, and a swipe of the consumer's own smart card will debit the bill automatically from a checking account.
A virtual smorgasbord of technology is being designed at the MIT Auto-ID Center. About two dozen companies and industry groups are collaborating with the center, including microelectronics firm Alien Technology, consumer goods maker Gillette, container manufacturer International Paper, and retailer Wal-Mart Stores. The key technologies at the MIT center are the 96-bit electronic product code that will be placed on each smart tag to identify each product, as well as a Product Markup Language under development that will describe the product and include how-to-cook instructions or information on storage temperature and moisture.
An Object Name Service will link the electronic product code and Product Markup Language, telling computers where to locate information on the Internet about any object carrying an electronic product code. Scanners able to read the information will be put into hand-held computers, cellular phones, store shelves, and doorways. MIT's partners will contribute the microchip, wireless antenna, battery, and other technologies to make the smart tags while MIT will define the framework. The center soon will begin a small pilot project, and within the next 18 months, test its technology at several stores.
The initial application for smart tags is in supply-chain management or tracking the movement of goods from the factory floor through the distribution system. At International Paper anywhere from 2 percent to 7 percent of products are stolen or misplaced during distribution so the new tags will enable the company and others like it to track down products on a per-item basis, reducing losses significantly. The Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition estimates that trademark counterfeiting, another major problem in the distribution chain, robs US companies of $200 billion in revenue annually so smart tags should help to reduce this problem too.
At Gillette smart tags will be used to make sure their products are on the shelf when the consumer wants to buy them. Consumers will be able to point a cellphone containing a scanner at any product to learn about its features from the company's website and, as incentive, discounts may be given to those who buy products immediately.
Despite their obvious advantages MIT says smart tags aren't expected to replace bar codes any time soon though due to the current cost of developing and producing them. New microchips and other technologies are, however, starting to drive down their cost. In a few years, tags without batteries will cost about 5 cents each, but in five to 10 years they will cost 1 cent each, which is competitive with today's bar codes.
Questions 29-35
Classify the following descriptions as referring to
MIT Auto—ID Center MIT
Alien Technology AT
Gillette GT
International Paper IP
Write the appropriate letters in boxes 29-35 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any answer more than once.
29. is producing a wide range of virtual technology.
30. customers will be able to use a cellphone to scan products and learn about its features from the company's website.
31. will use smart tags to track products to prevent them being stolen or misplaced during distribution.
32. will begin conducting tests at several stores in the next 18 months.
33. manufactures microelectronic products.
34. will be able to ensure that products are in stock when the customer wants them and may give discounts to those who purchase products right away.
35. says that although smart tags are still an expensive replacement for bar codes, new technology will make their price more competitive within a decade.
Questions 36-40
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet write
T if the statement agrees with the information
F if the statement contradicts the information
NG if there is no information on this in the passage
36. More than 20 companies are working together with MIT to develop smart tags.
37. Bar codes are a more effective way of storing information.
38. The high cost of developing smart tags will be passed on to consumers.
39. Within a decade people may be able to check what food they have at home without even being there.
40. Although smart tags will make it easier to track products they will lead to less direct communication with customers.
Academic Reading Test 6
INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TESTING SYSTEM
ACADEMIC READING
TEST 6
TIME ALLOWED:
NUMBER OF QUESTIONS:
1 hour40
Instructions
WRITE ALL YOUR ANSWERS ON THE ANSWER SHEET
The test is in 3 sections:
Reading Passage 1Questions 1-13
Reading Passage 2Questions 14-27
Reading Passage 3Questions 28-40
Remember to answer all the questions. If you are having trouble with a question, skip it and return to it later.
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1.
Intelligent Trams Will Guide Themselves
Since the early 1990s, major cities all over the world have been turning to the old-fashioned tram to solve the problem of gridlocked streets resulting from the last century's love affair with the motor car. Electric trams have long been recognized as ideal non-polluting forms of urban transportation, but the latest trams, still in the experimental stage, will not even need drivers—they will be steered by computers.
The drawback to the traditional trams was that they were guided along steel tracks. This meant that, besides being noisy, they couldn't go round an obstruction. So if a motor vehicle or other object stalled while crossing a tram track, all transportation along that line was held up until the obstacle was removed. Another major problem was derailments; if a tram jumped the tracks, it was a major operation to get it back on them. The revolutionary new trams, however, will be guided along "virtual tracks" that will guide them around busy streets without a driver having to touch the wheel.
There are two different technologies employed to enable computers to guide the trams. One, developed by researchers at the Eindhoven Institute of Technology, in Holland,is the Phileas vehicle, which has an on-board computer guidance system
pre-programmed with the tram route. Magnets embedded in the road's surface are detected by sensors under the tram to ensure that it is on the right track. If it is even two centimeters out, the on-board computer will make an adjustment to the tram's steering. Phileas was constructed by Dutch company APTS. Anton Gos Klostermann, an engineer behind the Dutch project, says that automatic steering systems such as these allow cities to implement tram-like schemes at a fraction of the cost. He says that trams increase the efficiency of public transport dramatically because they require less road space than motor buses and are highly reliable. "Phileas has all the benefits of light rail, but is much cheaper and safer," he says. "We see it as a completely different type of transportation."
Another driver-free tram-type vehicle is preparing to make its debut in Britain.
Known as the Omni, the tram uses cameras mounted at the front edge of the roof to track a line painted on the road. The cameras then transmit the information to the on-board computer system, which is located where the driver would normally sit. The system looks 100 feet ahead of the tram to plot its course. According to its creators, the system works reliably even if two-thirds of the line is obscured by dirt on the road.
The Omni is a double-decker, like the traditional British trams and buses. It has two advantages over motorized transport: One is that it has step-free entrances only 350mm above road level. So, just by building up kerbs slightly at ever tram stop, the vehicle becomes fully accessible for passengers in wheelchairs and for those with difficulty climbing steps. This speeds up the processes of boarding and alighting for all passengers. There is, in fact, a special section for wheelchair users at the back of the tram. The second advantage is that guided, pollution-free vehicles such as these trams can operate quite successfully in a pedestrian environment, and so the new trams can extend their services into places where cars and buses are banned, such as shopping malls.
