Hangzhou No.

4 High School
- - - International School

Pre-term Test
Fall 2022

TITLE OF PAPER：AS-English IELTS Question Paper

EXAM DURATION: 1 hour
GIVEN BY: Gregory
REVIEWED BY： Joseph Hearn

AUTHORISED MATERIALS
Pencil
Eraser
Pen

Candidate must complete thefollowing section.

CHINESE NAME _______________ ENGLISH NAME ______________

STUDENT ID ___________________ CLASS ______________________

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IELTS Diagram Task 1 Sample

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Reading

Questions 1-7

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Indoor farming

1. Some food plants, including ____________, are already grown indoors.[1]

2. Vertical farms would be located in ______________, meaning that there
would be less need to take them long distances to customers. [2]
3. Vertical farms could use methane from plants and animals to produce
______________. [1]
4. The consumption of __________________ would be cut because
agricultural vehicles would be unnecessary. [2]
5. The fact that vertical farms would need __________________ light is a
disadvantage. [1]
6. One form of vertical farming involves planting in __________________
which are not fixed. [2]
7. The most probable development is that food will be grown on
_______________________ in towns and cities. [1]

Questions 8-13

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading

Passage1 ?

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information.

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information .
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

8. Methods for predicting the Earth's population have recently

changed. ..........
9. Human beings are responsible for some of the destruction to food-
producing land. ..........
10.The crops produced in vertical farms will depend on the season. ..........
11.Some damage to food crops is caused by climate change ..........
12.Fertilisers will be needed for certain crops in vertical farms ..........
13.Vertical farming will make plants less likely to be affected by infectious
diseases .......... [6]
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Crop- Growing Skyscrapers.

By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the Earth's population will live in urban
centres. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic
trends, the human population will increase by about three billion people by
then. An estimated 10 hectares of new land (about 20% larger than Brazil) will
be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming methods
continue as they are practised today. At present, throughout the world, over
80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use. Historically, some
15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be
done to ensure enough food for the world's population to live on?

The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of

tomatoes and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is
the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another three
billion people. Many believe an entirely new approach to indoor farming is
required, employing cutting-edge technologies. One such proposal is for the
'Vertical Farm'. The concept is of multi-storey buildings in which food crops
are grown in environmentally controlled conditions. Situated in the heart of
urban centres, they would drastically reduce the amount of transportation
required to bring food to consumers. Vertical farms would need to be efficient,
cheap to construct and safe to operate. If successfully implemented,
proponents claim, vertical farms offer the promise of urban renewal,
sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (through year-round
production of all crops), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been
sacrificed for horizontal farming.

It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now
take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked,
often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Within that
same time frame, we evolved into an urban species, in which 60% of the
human population now lives vertically in cities. This means that, for the
majority, we humans have shelter from the elements, yet we subject our food-
bearing plants to the rigours of the great outdoors and can do no more than
hope for a good weather year. However, more often than not now, due to a
rapidly changing climate, that is not what happens. Massive floods, long
droughts, hurricanes and severe monsoons take their toll each year,
destroying millions of tons of valuable crops.
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The supporters of vertical farming claim many potential advantages for the
system. For instance, crops would be produced all year round, as they would
be kept in artificially controlled, optimum growing conditions. There would be
no weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods or pests. All the food

could be grown organically, eliminating the need for herbicides, pesticides and
fertilisers. The system would greatly reduce the incidence of many infectious
diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface. Although the system
would consume energy, it would return energy to the grid via methane
generation from composting non-edible parts of plants. It would also
dramatically reduce fossil fuel use, by cutting out the need for tractors,
ploughs and shipping.

A major drawback of vertical farming, however, is that the plants would

require artificial light. Without it, those plants nearest the windows would be
exposed to more sunlight and grow more quickly, reducing the efficiency of
the system. Single-storey greenhouses have the benefit of natural overhead
light: even so, many still need artificial lighting. A multi-storey facility with no
natural overhead light would require far more. Generating enough light could
be prohibitively expensive, unless cheap, renewable energy is available, and
this appears to be rather a future aspiration than a likelihood for the near
future.

One variation on vertical farming that has been developed is to grow plants in
stacked trays that move on rails. Moving the trays allows the plants to get
enough sunlight. This system is already in operation, and works well within a
single-storey greenhouse with light reaching it from above: it is not certain,
however, that it can be made to work without that overhead natural light.

Vertical farming is an attempt to address the undoubted problems that we face

in producing enough food for a growing population. At the moment, though,
more needs to be done to reduce the detrimental impact it would have on the
environment, particularly as regards the use of energy. While it is possible that
much of our food will be grown in skyscrapers in future, most experts currently
believe it is far more likely that we will simply use the space available on
urban rooftops.
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Questions 1-5

Do the following statements agree with the information given inReading

Passage?

YES if the statement agrees with the writer's claims .

NO if the statement contradicts the writer's claims .
NOT GIVEN if there is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.

1. After NAFTA, a lot of corn from the USA has been sold in Mexico. ______
2. Following NAFTA, Mexican business people tried to stop maize farmers
from working in factories throughout the country. __________
3. The Mexican farmers were paid a lot less for their corn after
NAFTA. _______
4. Many Mexican farmers wanted to leave Mexico after the Free Trade
Agreement. _______
5. The Mexican farmers were not able to do anything to help themselves
after the Trade Agreement. __________

[5]

Questions 6-10

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each
answer.

For thousands of years, corn has been a very important

6_________________ in the Mexican culture. After the North American Free
Trade Agreement, 7____________________ corn has been imported from
the USA in very large amounts. Mexican business people hoped that this
would mean that Mexican farmers had to get jobs in factories and that their
8________________ would increase. Instead of this result, the farmers
suffered from the low price of corn and people had to pay more for their corn.
The farmers wish that the government had 9____________________ them
during this time. As a result of the hardship, the farmers have organised
themselves by forming a 10______________________. [9]
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The People of Corn

Maize is Mexico’s lifeblood – the country’s history and identity are entwined
with it. But this centuries-old relationship is now threatened by free trade.
Laura Carlsen investigates the threat and profiles a growing activist
movement.

On a mountain top in southern Mexico, Indian families gather. They chant and
sprinkle cornmeal in consecration, praying for the success of their new crops,
the unity of their communities and the health of their families. In this village in
Oaxaca people eat corn tamales, sow maize plots and teach children to care
for the plant. The cultural rhythms of this community, its labours, rituals and
celebrations will be defined – as they have been for millennia – by the
lifecycle of corn. Indeed, if it weren’t for the domestication of teocintle (the
ancestor of modern maize) 9,000 years ago mesoamerican civilization could
never have developed. In the Mayan sacred book, the Popol Vuh, the gods
create people out of cornmeal. The ‘people of corn’ flourished and built one of
the most remarkable cultures in human history.

But in Mexico and Central America today maize has come under attack. As a
result of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Mexico has
been flooded with imported corn from north of the border in the US. The
contamination of native varieties with genetically modified imported maize
could have major consequences for Mexican campesinos (farmers), for local
biodiversity and for the world’s genetic reserves.

A decade ago, Mexican bureaucrats and business people had it all figured
out. NAFTA would drive ‘uncompetitive’ maize farmers from the countryside to
work in booming assembly factories across the country. Their standard of
living would rise as the cost of providing services like electricity and water to
scattered rural communities would fall. Best of all, cheap imported maize from
the US – the world’s most efficient and most heavily subsidized producer –
would be a benefit to Mexican consumers.

Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way. There weren’t quite enough of those
factory jobs and the ones that did materialize continued to be along the US
border, not further in Mexico. And despite a huge drop in the price farmers
received for their corn, consumers often ended up paying more.
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The price of tortillas – the country’s staple food – rose nearly fivefold as the
Government stopped domestic subsidies and giant agribusiness firms took
over the market. Free trade defenders like Mexico’s former Under-Secretary
of Agriculture Luis Tellez suggest: ‘It’s not that NAFTA failed, it’s just that
reality didn’t turn out the way we planned it. ’

Part of that reality was that the Government did nothing to help campesinos in
the supposed transition. Nor did NAFTA recognize inequalities or create
compensation funds to help the victims of free trade – unlike what occurred
with economic integration in the European Union.

Basically, Mexico adopted a sink-or-swim policy for small farmers, opening

the floodgates to tons of imported US corn. Maize imports tripled under
NAFTA and producer prices fell by half. The drop in income immediately hit
the most vulnerable and poorest members of rural society. While more than a
third of the corn grown by small farmers is used to feed their families, the rest
is sold on local markets. Without this critical cash, rural living standards
plunged.

Maize is at the heart of indigenous and campesino identity. José Carrillo de la

Cruz, a Huichol Indian from northern Jalisco, describes that relationship: ‘Corn
is the force, the life and the strength of the Huichol. If there were a change, if
someone from outside patented our corn, it would end our life and existence. ’

The good news is that the free-trade threat to Mexico’s culture and food
security has sparked a lively resistance. ‘In Defence of Corn’, a movement to
protect local maize varieties, is not a membership organization but a series of
forums and actions led by campesinos themselves. It’s a direct challenge to
both free trade and the dictums of corporate science.

The farmers’ tenacity and refusal to abandon the crop of their ancestors is
impressive. But larger economic conditions continue to shape their lives.
Rural poverty and hunger have soared under free trade – and placed a
heavier burden on women left to work the land. The battle for food sovereignty
continues. Movement leaders insist that the Government reassess its free
trade policies and develop a real rural development programme.