ENGLISH WRITTEN TEST – YEAR 11 – JANUARY 2017
A. Read the following text carefully.
What is relevant is that we are destroying our planet. A
steadily rising population is placing ever-higher demands on
Earth’s resources and is wiping out the wilderness and the
ecological balance of the planet, something on which we all
depend.
A steadily rising use of fossil fuels for energy is choking
Earth’s atmosphere with gases that are slowly poisoning it.
In addition, it allows the atmosphere to conserve heat more
efficiently, so that the planet is experiencing a greenhouse
effect that may have catastrophic impact.
A steadily increasing production of chemical substances
that are highly toxic is poisoning the soil and water of the
Earth, is destroying the ozone layer and is converting much
of the planetary surface into a garbage heap.
Since there can be nothing on Earth, simply nothing, that is
more important than saving the planet, our priorities must
be to reverse these destructive tendencies.
We must find alternative sources of energy, long-lasting
and non-polluting. We must continue the search for nuclear
fusion, in the hope that it will be a far richer and safer
source than nuclear fission. We must develop wind-power,
wave-power and, most of all, the direct use of solar power.
All these things are highly practical, but cost more money
than oil and coal, so that the challenge is to make them
cheaper.
We must find ways of detoxifying toxic products produced
by industrial plants. We must find substitutes for packaging,
substitutes that are recyclable. We must find substitutes for
chemicals that destroy the ozone layer.
We must find methods of saving our forests, of saving
threatened species, of maintaining a healthy ecological
balance on Earth.
If there is any spare effort left over from these absolute
necessities of scientific advance, we can put them into other
projects – otherwise not.
I regret this, for I am emotionally on the side of the big
projects, all of them, but necessity is a hard task-master,
and necessity is now in the saddle and holds the whip.
Isaac Asimov (abridged and adapted)
4. Find in the text equivalents for the following words.
a. increasing b. destroying / decimating
d. contaminating / polluting e. disastrous / fatal
g. detrimental / harmful h. replacements / alternatives
j. development / progress
1. Say whether these statements are
TRUE or False. Quote from the text to
support all your answers.
(16p)
a. We are turning our planet into a huge
waste dump.
b. Alternative energy forms are
environmentally damaging.
c. Fossil fuel energy is much cheaper to
obtain.
d. The author advises us to use throw-away
products.
2. Answer these questions in your own
words as far as possible.
a. What is the general purpose of the text?
b. What is the impact of over-population on
the environment?
c. Apart from polluting the air, what are
carbon dioxide emissions responsible for?
d. Which alternative forms of energy could
substitute fossil fuel energy?
e. According to the author, what should
scientific advance be used for?
f. What does the author mean in the last
paragraph with “necessity is now in the
saddle and holds the whip”?
3. What do the underlined words refer to
in the text?
a. ...something on which we all depend.
b. ...that are slowly poisoning it.
c. ... that may have catastrophic impact.
d. ... in the hope that it will be ...
e. ... the challenge is to make them cheaper.
f. ... side of the big projects, all of them,...
c. suffocating
f. waste
i. endangered
B. Complete the text with the words from the box.

Is human overpopulation killing the planet?

We have changed the planet, and the (1) are grave. Some experts believe (2)
temperatures could render Arctic summers ice-free as early as 2018. To put that in 1. melts
perspective, that hasn’t happened to the planet in three million years. If the Arctic ice 2. waves
(3), the ocean and planet will (4) enough to dramatically alter wind flow, global 3. shortages
weather patterns, even the jet stream. We’re already experiencing the effects of 4. implications
climate change: (5) weather events are responsible for much of the crop devastation 5. scarce
in the last decade or so, including floods in the US, drought in Australia and heat (6) in 6. heat up
Russia and Europe. The future seems just as grim: a new Intergovernmental Panel on 7. warming
Climate Change report warns that unchecked climate change will exacerbate food and 8. extreme
water (7), and cause further animal extinctions, not to mention human misery and the
increased likelihood of war for (8) resources.

C. CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

1. Insert the appropriate tense of the verbs in brackets.

a. Many species (not survive) if we keep destroying their natural habitats.
b. I (separate) my waste if you had told me to.
c. If people (throw) away less, less resources would be needed.
d. More waste will be created if the population (not/stop) growing.

2. Complete the sentences below with your own ideas.

a. If we used alternative sources of energy more, ...
b. More trees will be cut down, unless …

D. FUTURE

Change the verbs in brackets into an appropriate tense to express a future meaning.
1. I promise I (sort) out all the garbage next time.
2. By the end of 2050, the population in Europe (suffer) a significant decrease.
3. He’ll take the glass to the bottle bank as soon as he (have) the time.
4. “Is it true? (you/change) your diet?” – “Yes, I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time now.”
5 “I’m going out shopping for organic food.” – “Oh, are you? Wait, I (go) with you.”
6. I can’t help you because this time next week I (take) part in a Greenpeace protest at the coal plant.

E. WRITING - In about 180 words write an opinion essay using the guidelines below.

WRITING GUIDELINES:
st
1 paragraph: comment on the cartoon
(what is being criticized?)
2nd paragraph: explain how climate change
is affecting the world (supply some
examples)
3rd paragraph: put forward some solutions
to this problem
4rd paragraph: write a conclusion -
environmental protection or economic
growth?