Section I. Read the following extract and use your own words to summarize it.

Your summary should

be between 100 and 120 words long.
Have you ever wondered why soldiers are always clad in green? This is to enable them to
camouflage themselves during wartime. Hiding in the jungles, their green attire blend into the
surrounding trees and shrubs, making it difficult for the enemies to spot them.
Long before man make use of camouflaging, insects have already adopted the tactic of disguise to
escape from the clutches of their predators. By having body colors close to those of the rocks and dried
leaves, they catch less attention from the predators and hence escape from being pursued. However, this
kind of disguise works only if the insects remain still in the presence of their predators.
Butterflies and moths have developed a variety of camouflage strategies since they are quite
defenseless and their predators - birds are abundant in supply. Many moth caterpillars resemble dead
twigs while the young of certain species of butterflies appear like bird droppings. Adult butterflies and
moths camouflage themselves too, in attempts to escape from their hunters - birds who are superior
gliders. Possessing wings which resemble dried leaves help certain butterflies and moths to hide among
heaps of dried leaves when predators are around.
Fortunately, not all insects choose the art of disguise to escape from their predators; otherwise,
the world would be so dull and colorless. There are insects which assimilate the bright body colors of
bees and wasps to escape from being pursued by their predators. The concept of mimicry was derived,
owing to the bees and wasps. Long ago, birds have already learnt to avoid brilliantly colored wasps and
bees in fear of their painful stings. Hence, over millions of years, many harmless insects have assimilated
the bees and wasps by imitating their bright body colors and shapes. In this way, they appear dangerous to
their predators and hence ward them off.
Mimics of the wasps and bees are most commonly found in the gardens. The furry, plump bee-fly
not only appears like the bumble bee in terms of body colors, even its hums sound similar too. The only
difference is that the bee-fly does not have a sting and is hence harmless. The hoverfly is another insect
which imitates the body colors of the wasps. Their bodies are striped yellow and black. The only
deviations are that hoverflies do not have stings and they have only one pair of wings each while wasps
have two pairs each. These variations are hardly noticed by the predators and hence help them to escape.
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The extract presents a case on the art of camouflage of insects which helps them to avoid their predators.
By using nature and matching surroundings with their bodies and skins, insects inspire human to adapt
this strategy into warfare. Quintessences of nature-depedent concealment in the insect world are butteflies
and moths. Their concealing strategy varies from disguising as dried plants or bird droppings. However,
not every insect uses camouflage to shun their predators. For instance, bee-flies and hoverflies adapt the
outer appearances of wasp or bees to scare the birds of prey away although they aren’t as dangerous as the
latter.
Section II. The table below gives information about the problems faced by children in two primary
schools in 2005 and 2015. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features,
and make comparisons where relevant. You should write about 150 words.

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The tables compares the issues elementary students encountered in 2 different schools in 2 different
periods.
In general, students in primary school A seemed to be dogged by more educational problems than those in
school B in both 2 periods. However, while the amount of setbacks school A’s students face saw a
downward trend in 2015, the reverse was rather true for the school B’s students.
In 2005, students in school A ran into at least twice as many problems as students in school B. Reading
ability, verbal expression of ideas and concentration problems in school A seemed to double the amount
of such in school B. If there were only 7 students in school B having difficulty in handwriting, 5 students
in spelling, 11 students in listening skills and 6 students in instructions following, the number of students
in school A facing the same problems fourfolded, sixfolded, threefolded, sevenfolded respectively.
In 2015, the percentage of children in school A having reading problems slightly upturned, the percentage
of other problems all plateaued or downsized. Conspicuously, the proportions of attention span
hindrances and instruction following issues plummeted by 22% and 24% correspondingly. However,
those of school B were inclined to increase. For instance, the number of children inhibited by following
instructions and spelling doubled up with respect to the year of 2005. Still, the quantity of issues in school
A still overwhelmed that in school B.
Section III. Write an essay of 350 words on the following topic:
“Technological development leads to a lot of environmental issues. Some people think a
simple lifestyle can preserve the environment, while others argue that technology itself can solve it.”
Discuss both sides and give your opinion.
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Everyone is enjoying every bit of a technological advances emerging in our daily life. They are cutting-
edge, they are effective, they are helpful. However, has anyone ever thought that the technological
development we are luxuriating is wreaking havoc on the environment? This question has always been
put under firing debate.
On the one hand, with the technology-driven life seemingly comes with the worsening of our
environment. To commence with, to construct and operate machinery, a copious amount of energy
extracting from natural energy source is used. Specifically, the manufacturing of cars or automobiles
mainly depends on natural gas, fossil fuels, and manufacturers capitalize on our environment’s risk of soil
degradation, water pollution, et cetera. During the procedure of processing such, factories and plants also
discharge a plethora of waste back to the nature. Although there being greener way of producing
machines, they are still not adequate to compensate for the damage that had been done. What’s more, the
technological waste is piling uncontrollably, deteriorating not only natural setting. The amount of the
technological waste generated is running rampant, spreading every corner of the Earth and even to the
space. In the dumpsters lie on one another old machines, unusable phones, un-reboot-able PCs; they are
gradually releasing chemicals into soil. In the nature cycle, such chemicals now will not only pollute the
soil, but also pollute the air, the water.
On the other hand, technology in fact helps us a lot in the preservation of our Mother Nature. First and
foremost, technology presents us with more effective methods to conserve the environment. One
pacemaker area using technology to help our natural surroundings is wildlife conservation. It is
comparatively easier to observe and detect wild animals in need of help or track the poachers. However,
one of the greatest accomplishments technology reach apropos environment is the spread of information.
Via social media, people can understand what is going on around them, including the rotting of
environment. Many projects, organizations have been established on social platforms in order to help our
Mother Nature by spreading awareness, raising funds, et cetera.
In conclusion, technological developments may go a long way to protect our environment but I still opine
that a simpler life can lead to less environmental issues.