MAIN IDEAS

Text 1

Yet the popularity of rock climbing and its sister sport, bouldering, is raising questions about the
damaging environmental effects of climbing chalk—a ubiquitous and essential climbing tool. Made from
magnesium carbonate, climbing chalk is the same substance that gymnasts and weightlifters use to
improve their grip on bars and weights. In fact, it was first introduced to rock climbing in the 1950s by
John Gill, who was a gymnast in college before he turned his attention to bouldering. Since then, amateur
and professional climbers alike have come to depend on the chalk’s desiccating and friction-inducing
properties—and have been leaving streaks of the stuff on rock faces around the world.

The resulting “chalk graffiti” has become so bad in the United States that parks are beginning to
restrict its use. Utah’s Arches National Park allows only colored chalk that mostly matches rocks, while
Colorado’s Garden of the Gods National Natural Landmark banned all chalk and chalk substitutes. Native
American tribes have declared areas under Indigenous control off-limits to climbers, not only because of
unsightly chalk marks but also to preserve spiritually important areas.

Beyond the visual pollution, new research suggests chalk may be harming the flora that grows on
rocks. The latest study on the effects of climbing chalk, released October 2020, found that it negatively
impacted both the germination and survival of four species each of rock-dwelling ferns and mosses in
laboratory settings. Wiping it off doesn’t seem to help; chemical trails on cleaned boulders changed the
rock surface’s pH balance, which could affect the ability of plants to grow there in the future.

Adapted from National Geographic, Rock climbing is getting more popular—and that concerns conservationists.

1. By writing paragraph 1, the author intends

to tell the reader about … 3.
(A) The rock climbing’s sister sport
(B) Climbing chalk might have polluted
the environment
(C) The brief history about rock climbing
sport
(D) Chalk graffiti now being restricted in
some USA’s national parks
(E) The climbing rock have significant
impact to the flora surrounding the
rocks
2. Based on the passage, paragraph 4 most
likely discusses …
(A) Close the rock-climbing sport due its
environmental damages 4.
(B) The chemical trails on boulder
change the ability of plants to grow
(C) New formula of rock-climbing chalk
so it doesn’t pollute the environment
(D) More environmentally friendly ways
to play rock climbing
(E) The popularity of rock climbing
among the people in USA
What is the author’s purpose in writing
the passage …
(A) Native American declaration to limit
the spiritual important areas to the
climber
(B) Positive impact from rock climbing
activities
(C) Reason why rock climbing sport gain
popularity in USA
(D) Aside from the increasing popularity
of rock climbing, it has some
environmental damage
(E) Utah’s Arches National Park suffer
from rock climbing chalk
The author agree that the chalk polluted
the environment by…
(A) The visual pollution and substance
pollution from chalk
(B) Tourist activities creates waste
(C) The national parks overwhelmed by
rock climbers
(D) Ecosystem of flora threatened by the
residue of chalk
 (E) Rock climbing activities damages the
cliffs

Text 2

To some, coffee represents nothing more than a jolt of energy to start the day. But as a new
exhibition at the Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem demonstrates, the drink has been the subject of
political and religious debates, cultural exchange, and culinary innovation for centuries.

Coffee originated in Ethiopia before spreading to Yemen and beyond, reaching Mecca and Cairo by
the end of the 15th century. With the Ottoman Empire’s dominance of the Arabian Peninsula, coffeehouses
popped up around the region.

“One of the reasons that the institution of the café was so successful in the Middle East, a region
heavily populated by Muslims, who are prohibited from drinking wine, was people’s hunger for a place
where they could simply meet and talk,” Amnon Cohen, an Islamic and Middle Eastern studies scholar at
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, tells Haaretz.

Religious authorities have engaged with coffee in many different ways. For some Muslim officials,
coffeehouses represented a threat to mosques as central gathering places, wrote John McHugo for BBC
News in 2013. But coffee also helped Sufi worshippers stay alert during prayer services. Meanwhile,
Jewish religious scholars have debated whether coffee should be consumed on the sabbath and whether
Jews should visit Christian-owned coffeehouses.
Adapted from smithsonianmag.com, Tracing Coffee’s Travels From the East to the West

5. The main idea of the text is …

(A) Middle Eastern people love to drink (A) Sufi used café to stay awake during
coffee night prayers
(B) Coffee used as a substitution of wine (B) Muslims are prohibited from
(C) The brief history of coffee and drinking wine but need a place to
coffeeshop in the Middle East meet and talk
(D) Reasons why muslim brought the (C) Muslims and Jewish drink coffee in
coffee from Ethiopia café
(E) The success story of café in the (D) Muslims love to drink coffee much
Middle East (E) Religious authorities engage café in
religious activities
6. By writing paragraph 3, the author stated
that …. 8. What paragraph(s) mention that café was
(A) Café was so popular because people a threat to Muslims religious activities …
gather there to talk with each other (A) Paragraph 1
(B) Muslims are prohibited from (B) Paragraph 2 and 3
drinking wine (C) Paragraph 1 and 4
(C) Regardless of social position, café can (D) Paragraph 2
make people gather (E) Paragraph 4
(D) Café was the place to fulfil people’s
hunger for drinking wine 9. What is author’s purpose in writing the
(E) Only in café people can meet and talk text …
(A) Mention the successful of coffee in
7. Based on the text, the café spread Middle East
successfully in the middle east to around (B) Exhibit the popularity of coffee at the
the world because … end of 15th century
(C) Persuade reader to drink coffee
(D) Explain café spread in Middle East by
Muslims
 (E) Explain coffee as a subject of
religious debates, cultural exchange,
and culinary innovation

Text 3

Hydrogen has an energy density three times that of petrol. It can be used to generate electricity
using a fuel cell, and hydrogen-fuelled cars are already commercially available. When hydrogen gas is used
to produce energy, the only product formed is pure water.

One prospective source of renewable energy is hydrogen gas produced from water with the aid of
sunlight. Researchers at Linkö ping University, Sweden, have developed a material, nanoporous cubic
silicon carbide, that exhibits promising properties to capture solar energy and split water for hydrogen
gas production. The study has been published in the journal ACS Nano.

The material, which they call nanoporous 3C-SiC, has promising properties that suggest it can be
used to produce hydrogen gas from water using sunlight. The present study has been published in the
journal ACS Nano, and in it the researchers show that this new porous material can efficiently trap and
harvest ultraviolet and most of the visible sunlight. Furthermore, the porous structure promotes the
separation of charges that have the required energy, while the small pores give a larger active surface
area. This enhances charge transfer and increases the number of reaction sites, thus further boosting the
water splitting efficiency.

Producing hydrogen gas by splitting water molecules with the aid of solar energy is a sustainable
approach that could give hydrogen gas using renewable sources without leading to carbon dioxide
emissions. A major advantage of this method is the possibility to convert solar energy to fuel that can be
stored.
Adapted from sciencedaily.com, New porous material promising for making renewable energy from water

10. Why the nanoporous cubic silicon has a

promising properties to hydrogen gas
production …
(A) It is a prospective source of
renewable energy
(B) It is more effective to convert solar
energy to fuel
(C) It can enhance water splitting
efficiency
(D) It can capture solar energy and split
water for hydrogen gas production
(E) Its features has been published in
several journals
11. By writing paragraph 2, the author
intends to state that …
(A) Nanoporous cubic silicon carbide
developed by at Linkö ping University
researchers is the latest innovation
of hydrogen gas
(B) Nanoporous cubic silicon carbide can
harvest ultraviolet and most of the
visible sunlight
(C) Nanoporous cubic silicon carbide
further boosting the water splitting
efficiency
(D) Nanoporous cubic silicon carbide
made possible to convert solar
energy to fuel
(E) Nanoporous cubic silicon carbide
produce hydrogen gas from water
using sunlight
12. From the text, the author stated these
ideas, except …
(A) Pure water is the emission of
hydrogen gas
(B) The small pores structure give a less
active surface area
(C) The study of nanoporous 3C-SiC has
been published in the journal ACS
Nano
(D) Water and solar light are the
components of making a hydrogen
fuel
 (E) Hydrogen gas is one of
environmentally friendly fuels
13. Why producing the hydrogen gas is a
sustainable approach …
(A) It creates no pollution gas
(B) Pure water does harm the
environment
the
(C) Nanoporous 3-SiC can harvest
ultraviolet and most of the visible
sunlight
(D) Nanoporous 3-SiC convert solar
energy to fuel that can be stored.
(E) Researchers at Linkö ping University
have a cutting edge technology to
save environment

Text 4

The Malaysian government has been asked why it revoked emergency Covid regulations as cases
continue to spike. Malaysia has reported more than a million cases and 8,000 deaths so far, but experts
warn the real numbers are much higher as testing rates are low. Hospitals are crowded and overwhelmed
- recent images showed patients sitting on chairs and sharing oxygen cylinders. The country is also
currently under a state of emergency, which will end on 1 August and will not be extended.

Opposition leaders said they were not informed about the annulment, which happened last week,
and demanded to know what the impact on the wider public would be. "Why were we not informed?
Whose decision was it?" said Democratic Action Party deputy chairman Gobind Singh Deo during a
parliamentary session on Tuesday. These emergency ordinances included allowing people to be fined for
breaching movement restrictions.

Malaysia is now recording more than 14,000 cases a day, with a record 207 deaths recorded on
Tuesday. Hospitals have been turning away patients, with even those who do get admission not
guaranteed beds. On Monday, hundreds of junior doctors walked out of hospitals and medical facilities
across the country, saying they deserved permanent jobs and better conditions.

Undertakers and funeral workers have also told local reporters that they are overwhelmed with
requests to bury Covid-19 victims, many of whom have died at home. Some experts had said that even the
current emergency measures were "half-baked" and would not help improve the situation.
Adapted from BBC.com, Anger as Covid-ravaged Malaysia lifts pandemic measures

14. The author describe the terrible

conditions of Coronavirus pandemic in (A) Parliament
Malaysia by … (B) Funeral workers
(A) Stating the cases and the death (C) Opposition leaders
records in Malaysia (D) Doctors and junior doctors
(B) Release the state of emergency status (E) Patients
despite increasing Coronavirus case
(C) Hospital cannot guarantee patients 16. Many of the undertakers and funeral
to get beds and treatment workers overwhelmed with …
(D) The cemetery fulfilled with (A) Questioning the Malaysian
Coronavirus deaths Government
(E) Junior doctors overwhelmed with (B) New Covid cases
Coronavirus patients (C) Burying the Covid-19 victims
(D) Emergency ordinances
15. Based on paragraph 1, Malaysian (E) Sharing oxygen cylinders
government get criticized about revoking
the emergency covid regulations by …
Text 5

The applications, games, and websites that are promoted as 'educational' are not always the best
ones for supporting learning. The fact that they are interactive does not necessarily mean that they are
much better than an old-fashioned workbook with its right and wrong answers. Children may enjoy these
products for a while but then get a bit bored. Thus, they are not the most appropriate or engaging way to
learn.

Treat so-called 'free' applications with caution. Some will expose your child to advertisements.
Others are designed to wait until your child is engaged in a game or storyline and then demand payment
before they can go any further. This can lead to frustration as young children do not understand why they
cannot continue. Sometimes it is better to make a small payment in advance if the application promises no
further purchases. However, some applications are free to download and completely free of
advertisements or in-app purchases.

Choosing an app needs the same kind of thought and care you would put into buying anything else
for your child. Do not rely only on the star rating. Instead, read the user reviews and check the privacy
policy if you are worried about the personal information that the app might be collecting. If you want your
child to enjoy learning, develop curiosity, and think about things creatively, provide them with a range of
games and apps. Open-ended games have become progressively more challenging and encourage children
to explore and have fun. They are, therefore, more likely to establish a love of learning and to lay the
foundation for their future development.

Physical activity, reading, and other more 'traditional' activities continue to play a very important
part in children's development. But, most parents do rely on screen devices from time to time to engage
their child while they are busy with something else. This is not a problem in itself, just as long as children's
time is made up of a balanced range of activities.
(Adapted from : http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3tsyrd)

17. The author reminds readers to be more

careful with commercialism in free
19. The author would apparently agree that ....
applications in paragraph(s) ....
(A) Open-ended games can stimulate
(A) 1
children's love for learning
(B) 2
(B) Some games and applications are
(C) 3
boring because they are too easy
(D) 1 and 4
(C) There is no convincing prediction for
(E) 2 and 3
the future of the games and apps
(D) It is better to pay for games in
18. How does the idea in sentence 6 relate to
advance so that children can learn
the other ideas in paragraph 1?
freely
(A) Sentence 6 elaborates the other ideas
(E) Apps star rating provides users with
in paragraph 1.
reviews on the good things of games
(B) Sentence 6 is the result of the other
and apps
ideas in paragraph 1.
(C) Sentence 6 strongly contradicts the
20. Regarding busy parents' reliance on
other ideas in paragraph 1.
screen devices to help keep their children
(D) Sentence 6 is the implementation of
entertained, the author assumes that ....
the theory discussed in paragraph 1.
(A) it is the parents' responsibility to
(E) Sentence 6 provides another type of
make their children less engaged
free applications discussed in
with screen devices
paragraph 1.
(B) children whose parents are busy
(D) such parents' reliance is acceptable
with their activities must use screen
as long as the children are given the
devices less
right proportion of other activities
(C) parents need to be aware of their
(E) it is not tolerable as their children
children's need for varied activities
need to have more physical activities