LITERASI BAHASA INGGRIS UTBK RUANG GURU

(The story by Oiwan Lam originally appeared on Global Voices, on December 2, 2020)
    Over a dozen journalists resigned on December 1 from Hong Kong Cable Television Limited,
a major subscription-based TV station in Hong Kong, in protest after the media company fired
40 editorial staff in what is perceived as a political crackdown. Those laid off include the head of
the China desk and the entire team of the award-winning News Lancet program. The broadcaster
cited financial reasons for the layoff, a claim the newsroom staff rebukes. The entire China desk,
a total of 12 people, has since resigned in protest, along with the heads of the international and
finance desks and the newsroom's chief assignment editor.

    The layoffs were sudden and took immediate effect — those who were sacked were told to
leave the office on the same day. In shock, members of staff gathered outside the room of the
news director demanding an explanation. Among those laid off is Wong Lai-ping, former deputy
news editor at the China desk. On a radio interview aired on December 2, she rebuked the
management's claim that the decision was made out of financial difficulties, remarking that in
August, the management fired the then-executive director Fung Tak-hung and replaced him with
four new managers. Wong said that the new management often made editorial requests, such as
live broadcasts of China's foreign minister's regular press conference, or modifying headlines.
According to Wong, the newsroom staff refused to comply with such requests.

    The Hong Kong Journalists Association commented on the layoffs, “Given the [New Lancet]
team’s coverage of the police and administration, it’s difficult not to see this as minimizing
sensitive reporting in the name of cost-cutting”.

 1. Based on the text, the trigger of this resignation en masse is the belief that ….

A. the previous layoffs were politically motivated

B. financial reasons affected the layoffs the most
C. the journalists could demand for higher salary
D. political crackdown barely prompted the layoffs
E. the management's disapproved of staffs' refusal of demands 

… she rebuked the management's claim that the decision was made out of financial difficulties,
remarking that in August, the management fired the then-executive director Fung Tak-hung and
replaced him with four new managers. (Paragraph 2)

2. Dealing with the issue discussed in the text, the statement above may lead the readers to the
assumption that …

A. The management’s claim should have been accepted by all parties.

B. The decision to fire Fung Tak-hung was taken with well-consideration.
C. The director Fung Tak-hung was not as competent as four new managers.
D. There was an illogical situation to claim financial difficulties as the reason for the layoffs.
E. The management tried to cover up their financial difficulties by cutting the number of
employees.

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    After news of the existence of a yellow turtle in India's eastern state of Odisha went viral this
past July, Nepalis wanted to remind the world that they made a similar discovery first — on
April 14, 2018, to be exact — when a rare, golden turtle  — but a different species — was found
for the first time in southeastern Nepal’s Dhanushadham municipality. According to a research
paper by Kamal Devkota, Dev Narayan Mandal and Hinrich Kaiser, which was published in the
journal Herpetology Notes, the turtle was released into its natural habitat after pictures were
taken as proof. 

    A normal Indian flapshell turtle is greenish-grey in colour, with yellow marks on its head and
neck. It has a grey carapace dotted with dark yellow spots and derives its name from the femoral
flaps at the plastron, the ventral part of the shell. These turtles are found in Bangladesh, India,
Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, most typically in ditches, lakes, ponds, and paddy
fields with stagnant water. Omnivorous in nature, they eat anything from leaves and flowers to
snails, fish, and frogs. While a normal-coloured flapshell turtle can easily camouflage itself in
the murky, greenish water, its golden-coloured variant — a turtle with chromatic leucism — is
easily recognisable and therefore more vulnerable. Its luminous golden colour, in particular,
makes it a prized pet.

    The congenital disorder of albinism creates a complete absence of pigmentation in the skin,
hair, and eyes due to the lack of tyrosinase, an enzyme involved in the production of melanin.
Researchers estimate that albinism occurs once in every 10,000 mammal births. Leucism, on the
other hand, is an extremely rare genetic condition in which animals have reduced pigmentation.
Most leucistic animals have normal-coloured eyes, whereas those with albinism tend to have red
or pink eyes.

    Nepal is home to 16 species of turtles, of which four are critically endangered: the three-
striped roofed turtle (Kachuga dhongoka), the red-crowned roofed turtle (Kachuga kachuga), the
Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle (Chitra indica), and the elongated tortoise (Indotestudo
elongata). Though turtles play an important role in reducing pollution by feeding on insects,
vegetation, and dead animals, factors like habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation have been
threatening their survival. According to “Turtles of Nepal – A Field Guide for Species Accounts
and Distribution,” the draining of wetlands for irrigation and fishing, the excessive use of
agrochemicals which eventually seep into waterways, and unsustainable fishing methods all
negatively impact turtle populations. 

 3. The third paragraph of the passage above mainly discusses ….

A. physical appearance of turtles

B. congenital disorders in sea-mammals
C. the difference between two congenital illnesses
D. albinism, leucism, and how to treat them
E. albinism and leucism as hazardous congenital disorders

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4. Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage above?

A. A quarter of all turtle species in Nepal are threatened with extinction.

B. Both Nepalis and Indians found new rare turtles at different times.
C. A turtle with chromatic leucism is insusceptible topredators.
D. Animals with albinism and leucism can bedistinguished.
E. Turtles can help humans to keep the environment healthy.

5. The paragraph following the passage will most likely discuss .…

A. research on all turtle populations

B. dangerous factors for turtle populations
C. the suggestion to look after our environment
D. turtle populations’ contribution to reduce pollution
E. some ways to save turtles from threatening factors

The latest round in an ongoing debate over global-warming trends claims that warming has
indeed slowed down this century. An obvious slowing in the rise of global temperatures was
recorded at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This was referred to as a "hiatus" or a
"pause". This hiatus was first observed several years ago. Climate-change skeptics have used this
as evidence that global warming has stopped permanently. But in June the previous year, a study
in science claimed that the hiatus was just an artifact which disappears when biases in
temperature data are corrected.

Now a prominent group of researchers is countering that claim. They argue in Nature Climate
Change that even after correcting these biases the slowdown was real. "There is this mismatch
between what the climate models are producing and what the observations are showing," says
lead author John Fyfe. "We can't ignore it." Fyfe uses the term "slowdown" rather than "hiatus".
He also stresses that it does not in any way weaken global-warming theory.

The study that questioned the existence of the slowdown corrected known biases in the surface
temperature record maintained by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA). The finding showed differences in temperature readings from ships and buoys. This
effectively increased the record about warming. The researchers also extended the record to
include 2014. This set a new record high for average temperatures.

Thomas Karl, director of National Centers for Environmental Information in Asheville,

calculated the rate of global warming between 1950 and 1999 as being 0.113°C per decade. This
was similar to the 0.116°C a decade calculated for 2000-14. This, Karl said, meant that an
assessment done by the influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2013 showing
that warming had slowed was no longer valid.

(Adapted from www.nature.com)

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6. The passage above mainly discusses about….

A. the hiatus observation was first carried out several years ago
B. the reason why global warming is slowing down in this century
C. global warming is a verifiable issue in the space of a decade
D. the contention about global warming and whether it is indeed slowing this period
E. the view of study in science that the hiatus is an artifact which vanishes

7. The word “prominent” in paragraph 2 means….

A. well-known
B. promenade
C. shrewd
D. indolent
E. magnificent

8. Why have some claimed that global warming a fabricated issue?

A. Because there’s no valid data to prove that global warming is real.

B. Since the existence of the slowdown corrected known biases in the surface temperature
record upheld by the US NOAA.
C. As an assessment done on Climate Change presenting that warming had slowed was no
longer valid.
D. For the researchers is countering that in Nature Climate Change even after correcting
these biases the slowdown was real.
E. Because of the diversification in temperature readings from ships and buoys, the study
found.

Over the last two decades, the use of ICT has been an important topic in education. On the one
hand, studies have shown that ICT can enhance teaching and learning outcomes. For example, in
science and mathematics education, scholars have documented that the use of ICT can improve
students’ conceptual understanding, problem solving, and team working skills. Consequently,
most curriculum documents state the importance of ICT and encourage school teachers to use
them. However, teachers need to specifically trained in order to integrate ICT in their teaching.

Schools are known to be resistant to innovation and change, however, the spread of ICT is
beginning to affect how teachers teach. One of the current issues about the use of ICT is how it is
integrated into the curriculum. The curriculum document provide arguments for introducing ICT
in the school setting. Therefore, schools expect that graduates from teacher education programs
have a reasonable knowledge of how to use ICT. However, this may not be the case because
most current teachers’ pre-service preparation, and subsequent in-service courses were designed
by using traditional educational technology and settings. Thus, the participants in these courses
are not familiar with the processes, interaction patterns, features, and possibilities of teaching
learning processes based on ICT.

Effective development of pre-service teachers’ ICT proficiency does not seem to be a direct
process, but is the one asking for a careful, complex approach. First, a need assessment is
important to find out what ICT skills and knowledge teachers need at schools. Second, designers
of teacher education programs should know the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of ICT and

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their attitudes toward ICT integration into curriculum. Third, teacher education programs need to
consider the two typical arguments that support the ICT use in schools.

9. Which of the following best restates the sentence “Over the last two decades, the use of ICT
has been an important topic in education. On the one hand, studies have shown that ICT can
enhance teaching and learning outcomes.” in paragraph 1?

A. ICT usage has been a vital topic in education and studies indicate that ICT can develop
teaching and learning upshot.
B. Studies have shown that ICT can enrich teaching and learning end result
C. The use of ICT has been an insignificant topic in education. Also, studies have shown
that ICT can enhance teaching and learning outcomes.
D. Over the last two decades, the use of ICT has been an important topic in educational
method.
E. Over the preceding two decades, studies have exposed that ICT can increase teaching and
learning outcomes.

10. Based on the passage, paragraph 1 most likely discusses….

A. educational growth in the last two decades

B. the development of education by using ICT
C. the advantages of using ICT in the learning process
D. teachers need to be trained in order to integrate ICT in their teaching
E. ICT and education in today’s learning development