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BAHASA INGGRIS – PAKET 1

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Nanotechnology has been around for two decades, but the first wave of applications is only now beginning to
break. As it does, it will affect everything from the batteries we use to the pants we wear to the way we treat cancer.
The main thing to know about nanotechnology is that it's small. Really small. Nano, a prefix that means
"dwarf" in Greek, is shorthand for nanometer, one-billionth of a meter: a distance so minute that comparing it to
anything in the regular world is a bit of a joke. This comma, for instance, spans about half a million nanometers. To
put it another way, a nanometer is the amount a man's beard grows in the time it takes him to lift a razor to his face.
Nanotechnology matters because familiar materials begin to develop odd properties when they're nanosize.
Tear a piece of aluminum foil into tiny strips, and it will still behave like aluminum—even after the strips have
become so small that you need a microscope to see them. But keep chopping them smaller, and at some point, 20 to
30 nanometers, in this case, the pieces can explode. Not all nanosize materials change properties so usefully (there's
talk of adding nano-aluminum to rocket fuel), but the fact that some do is a boon. With them, scientists can engineer a
cornucopia of exotic new materials, such as plastic that conducts electricity and coatings that prevent iron from
rusting. It's like you shrink a cat and keep shrinking it, and then at some point, all at once, it turns into a dog.
Substances behave magically at the nanoscale because that's where the essential properties of matter are
determined. Arrange calcium carbonate molecules in a sawtooth pattern, for instance, and you get fragile, crumbly
chalk. Stack the same molecules like bricks, and they help form the layers of the tough, iridescent shell of an abalone.
It's a tantalizing idea: creating a material with ideal properties by customizing its atomic structure.
Scientists have already developed rarefied tools, such as the scanning tunneling microscope, capable of viewing
and moving individual atoms via an exquisitely honed tip just one atom wide.
In many ways Nano’s invention is like that of plastic. It will be everywhere: in the scalpels doctors use for
surgery and in the fabrics we wear. When coffee is spilled on a pair of stain-resistant nanopants from the Gap,
made from fibers treated with fluorinated nanopolymer, it rolled right off.

1. What is the main idea of the text?
A. Nano is a new technology so useful that it is
comparable to the use of plastics.
B. Nano is the latest and smallest measurement
man has ever invented.
C. Being nanosized, materials change its
properties and behavior.
D. Nanotechnology has been around for two
decades.
E. The nanosized structure of a material can be
customized to create ideal properties.
2. What most likely motivates the writer to write the
text?
A. Scientists have regular opportunities to define
public discourse over nanotechnology.
B. People have much time for consulting
scientific literature, as well as paying
attention to television and newspapers.
C. Not many people support the nanotechnology.
D. People agree that nanotechnology has
potential benefits in health and medicine,
national defense and environmental policy.
E. Nanotechnology has received limited media
coverage.
3. With the sentence “It will be everywhere” (last
paragraph), the writer intends to …
A. describe the future of nanotechnology.
B. explain the explosive danger of microscopic
matters.
C. show the possible development of products.

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D. compare the invention of nanotechnology to E. Sixty seconds

that of plastic.
E. describe the remarkable substance of plastic. 7. The pronoun “them” in line 12 refers to ….
A. Properties
4. What can be inferred from paragraph 1? B. Familiar materials
A. The application of nanotechnology is more C. Nanosize materials
important than the development of computer D. Tiny aluminum strips
technology. E. New exotic materials
B. There has not been much development in the
application of nanotechnology since it was 8. Which of the following is closest in meaning to
first invented. the word “boon” in line 12?
C. When nanotechnology is applied, it is like A. Surprise
computer technology, which makes small B. Advantage
changes. C. Miracle
D. Computer technology and nanotechnology D. Bonus
will influence the way we use our batteries E. Mystery
and the way doctors treat cancer.
E. Like computer revolution that looks small, 9. Which of the following is NOT stated in the text?
nanotechnology still gives small impacts on A. The application of nanotechnology is about to
life. begin.
B. Nanometer is the tiniest distance human has
5. It is implied in the text that …. ever discovered.
A. Not all common materials when they are C. Nanosize materials change their properties.
nanosize will acquire new properties for D. Nanotechnology can help develop surgical
further use instruments.
B. Plastic is the result of nanotechnology E. At nanoscale the materials change into useful
C. Plastic isolates electricity properties.
D. Nanotechnology will be exclusively useful for
medical and safety purposes 10. Which of the following is TRUE according to the
E. One nanometer is equal to half the size of the text?
dot in the alphabet “l” A. We do not have to use a microscope to look at
materials of 30 nanosize.
6. The word “minute” in line 5 is closest in meaning B. Not all materials can turn into nanosize.
to …. C. We can develop calcium carbonate into an
A. Atomic abalone.
B. Cosmic D. One meter is equal to one million nanometers.
C. Enormous E. Useful properties of nanosize materials can be
D. A brief period engineered into refined tools.

Forget lions, tigers, and bears. When it comes to the art of war, army ants are among the most frightening
creatures on earth. With powerful mouth parts, these fighters can skillfully cut creatures much larger than themselves
into pieces. Acting together in great numbers, army ant colonies succeed at making tens of thousands such kills each
day. Their capabilities do have limits, though. Contrary to popular belief, they almost never take down large animals
or people.
One of the best places to observe army ants is Barro Colorado, an island in a lake created by the Panama
Canal. The island is home to as many as 50 colonies of Eciton burchellii, the most studied army ant in the world;
more 170 other types live in Asia, Africa and Australia.
The colonies in this army are huge, ranging from 300,000 to 700,000. They never stay in one place long,
moving from nest side to nest side. Linking legs together, they use their own bodies to form enormous nests called
bivouacs, which they hang beneath a fallen tree. There they stay for about 20 days as the queen lays as many as
300,000 eggs.
When the ants go hunting as many as 200,000 of them leave the nest in a group that broadens into a fan as
wide as 14 meters. This swarm raid takes a slightly different course each day, allowing the hunter to cover fresh
ground each time.

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Protecting the ants wherever they go are soldiers, recognizable by their oversized jaws. If their frightening
looks do not scare enemies away, soldiers also have a powerful bite and the attack is often suicidal because their
jaws are shaped like fishhooks, the soldiers cannot pull them out again. Amazonian tribes have used soldier ants to
close wounds, breaking off the bodies and leaving the head in place.
Eciton Burchelli are blind and cannot see what a head of them is, but they move together in such great
numbers that they can easily kill the nonarmy ants, insects and other small creatures that constitute their prey.
When the groups happen upon a break in the path, ants immediately link legs together and form living bridges so
that the groups can move forwards without any delay.
In Japanese the word ant is written by linking two characters: one meaning ”insect”, the other meaning
“loyalty”. Indeed, individual ants are completely loyal to their fellow ants. They display many examples of selfless
cooperation that, while certainly extreme, cannot fail to win human admiration.

11. What is the main idea of the text? 14. With the sentence “Forget lions, tigers, and bears”
A. Army ants organize their life the writer intends to ….
B. Army ants have some capabilities A. clarify that the text is not about those animals
C. Soldier ants are able to protect their colonies B. state that lions, tigers, and bears are
D. People’s misconception about army ants has dangerous
spread C. prove that army ants are more powerful than
E. Army ants are more powerful than lions, those animals
tigers and bears D. explain that army ants can kill lions, tigers,
and even bears
12. Which of the following statements about soldier E. tell that army ants are more skillful in the art
ants is not true? of war compared to those animals
A. People can use them to close wounds.
B. They can see nothing a head of them. 15. How is the information in the last paragraph
C. They have powerful bites. organized?
D. They lay many eggs. A. A statement is followed by examples and
E. They link their legs together to form a living explanation
bridge. B. A statement is followed by research findings
C. A statement is followed by explanation
13. In which paragraph does the author mention the organized from general to specifics
sight of army ants? D. A statement is followed by supporting Ideas
A. 2 organized in cause and effect
B. 3 E. A statement is followed by definition and
C. 4 explanation
D. 5
E. 6 16. The phrase “happen upon” (par 6) is closest in
meaning to ….
A. Meet
B. Find
C. Avoid
D. Need
E. Occur