Block 4 The Environment

Escola Secundária: ________________________________________________

Teste Intermédio de Inglês – Parte I – Compreensão da escrita

Nome: ________________________________11.º: __________________Data: ____/ ____/____

Classificação Parte I: ________________________________________________________________
Assinatura do Prof.: _________________________Assinatura do E.E.: _________________________

Duração do teste: 50 minutos

· Utiliza apenas caneta ou esferográfica de tinta indelével, azul ou preta.

· Não é permitido a consulta de dicionários.
· Não é permitido o uso de corretor.
· Sempre que precisares de alterar ou de anular uma resposta, risca, de forma clara, o que pretendes
que fique sem efeito.
· Escreve de forma legível a resposta a cada item no espaço indicado no enunciado do teste. As
respostas ilegíveis ou que não possam ser claramente identificadas são classificadas com zero pontos.
· Para cada item, apresenta apenas uma resposta. Se apresentares mais do que uma resposta a um
mesmo item, só a primeira será classificada.
· As cotações dos itens encontram-se depois do teste (e ao lado de cada pergunta apenas para te
auxiliar na preparação do teste).

Part 1 – Activity A
Read the following text and answer the questions that follow: items 1-5.

What is it?
1. According to leading experts and many scientists, the
environment is the complex set of physical, geographic,
biological, social, cultural and political conditions that
surround an individual or organism and that ultimately
5 determine its form and the nature of its survival.
2. In addition, they state that the environment influences how people live and how societies
develop. For that reason, people, progress, economic development and the environment
are closely linked. Consequently, the environment merits our concern.
3. As we are all aware of, the environment can also pose a number of serious risks. Air pollution,
1 waterborne diseases, toxic chemicals, and natural disasters are some of the challenges the
0 environment presents for mankind and which we need to focus on and minimise. In
addition, natural resources, land, water, and forests are being degraded at an alarming rate
in many countries – and once they are gone, they are irreplaceable.
4. For development to be sustainable – meeting the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their needs – countries must take into account
1 environmental concerns in addition to economic progress.
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5. Finally, concern for a sound global environment is essential to fighting poverty, as the
poorest people tend to live in the most vulnerable places.
Source: www.worldbank.org
1 List 5 reasons why the Environment merits our concern. (10 marks)

Read the text again and choose the correct option for items 2-4. (6 marks)

Write only the numbers of the items and the letters (A, B, C or D) on your answer sheet.
For each item only one option is correct.

2 A synonym of the word “experts” (line 1) in the text is:

a. doctors
b. specialists
c. governments
d. people

3 A synonym for the word “Consequently” (line 8) in the text is:

a. because
b. but
c. as a result
d. in addition

4 An antonym for the word “ability” (line 15) in the text is:
a. unability
b. disability
c. irability
d. inability

5 Now read the text again and link the sentences below to the paragraphs in the text. (4 marks)

Example: Defining the term “The Environment”: paragraph 1

a. Environmental threats
b. Environmental harmony
c. Environmental social effects
d. The reduction of natural resources

Part 1 – Activity B
Read the following text and answer the questions that
follow: item 6-12.

Life in 2020
Paul Brown, environment correspondent
The Guardian, Tuesday 28 October 2003

In the new village of Hamstreet, in Kent, Richard Dumill goes to the bathroom and prepares for
a new day. It is 2020 and as he flushes the toilet his sample is automatically analysed and sent
to the local doctor.
There is a slight hum as the family water purifier switches on, and as he walks down the hallway
5 he taps the electricity meter and sees it shows that the family is in credit: his windmill generator
and solar panels are putting more energy into the grid than the household is using, adding
to the family income.
 Downstairs his wife, Sarah, is complaining. The so-called “smart fridge” has malfunctioned
and the order for milk and bread, which should have reached the local delivery service has not
1 been sent. The grocer, who employs a refugee from Tuvalu, a Pacific island country that
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disappeared three years previously as sea levels rose, will have to be telephoned instead. Food
deliveries go in a special lockable box rather than on the doorstep since theft of these
increasingly expensive essentials is a growing problem.
There is a clampdown on preservatives in food and high oil prices mean that sending fresh
food long distances is prohibitively expensive. The family keep chickens to have a supply of
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5 fresh eggs and grow vegetables because so much imported food is now an expensive luxury.
The warmer climate means melons can now be grown outdoors.
This start to the day of the average British family is part of a vision of how life will have changed
for everyone by 2020 put together by Environment Agency scientists. The agency’s picture of
life in Britain in 2020 is not all bad. The air is cleaner, public transport is much better, and
because of congestion charges and home working traffic jams are becoming a distant memory.
2
Source: www.theguardian.com
0

6 Identify four differences between the present and the future in paragraphs 1-4. (4 marks)

For items 7-9, choose the correct option. (6 marks)

For each item only one option is correct.
In your answers write only the letters (A, B, C or D).

7 The expression “There is a slight hum” in line 4 means:

a. You can hear someone in the family humming.
b. You can hear a low noise.
c. You can hear a loud noise.
d. You can hear an irritating noise.

8 Find the odd expression out which doesn’t mean the same as “previously” in line 11:
a. in the past.
b. before.
c. after.
d. ago.

9 The expression “prohibitively expensive” in line 15 means:

a. fairly expensive.
b. slightly expensive.
c. rather expensive.
d. extremely expensive.

10 Read paragraph 5 again and explain the meaning of the word “average”: (4 marks)

Answer: __________________________________________________________________________

11 Read paragraph 5 again and write an antonym for the word “cleaner” in the text: (3 marks)

Answer: __________________________________________________________________________

12Read paragraph 5 again and write an antonym for the word “better” in the text: (3 marks)
Answer: __________________________________________________________________________

Part 1 – Activity C

13 Now read a text about environmental

sustainability and choose the appropriate option for
each gap.
(10 marks)

What is the international community doing?

Environmental sustainability is a a. minor / major global

concern and is one of the much sought b. after / up Millennium
Development Goals. Countries and organisations are coming together to analyse and discuss
what can be done to protect the Environment and guarantee c. it’s / its sustainability for
5 generations to come.
Many organisations are searching d. for / after ways to use natural resources so that they last
throughout our lifetimes and remain available for generations to come. Their objective is to
guarantee the e. more / most effective possible use of our planet’s f. current / currently
resources.
1 International organisations g. as / like the World Bank, work with h. developing / develop
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countries to understand and address environmental challenges. This is i. absolute / absolutely
essential if long lasting changes are ever to be made.
Countries and societies will make different choices about environmental priorities, but these
choices need to be based on good analysis and the participation of all groups that will be
affected by them. This means j. hear / hearing and considering all the parties involved,
1 regardless of the position and influence that they have.
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Balancing and simultaneously achieving economic, social and environmental progress is
difficult and often means challenging choices. Trade-offs among generations, social groups, and
countries influence what people see as sustainable development. Yet, this is an objective which
is in dire need of global attention.
Adapted from: www.sustainabledevelopment.un.org
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END