đề thi học phần môn đọc từ 178 222

Martin Luther King A. Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. He had an older sister, Willie Christine King, and a younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams King. Growing up in Atlanta, King attended Booker T. Washington High School. He skipped ninth and twelfth grade, and entered Morehouse College at age fifteen without formally graduating from high school. From the time that Martin was born, he knew that black people and white people had different rights in certain parts of America. If a black family wanted to eat at a restaurant, they had to sit in a separate section of the restaurant. They had to sit at the back of the cinema, and even use separate toilets. Worse, and perhaps even more humiliating still, in many southern states, if a black man was on a bus and all the seats were taken, he would have to endure the indignity of relinquishing his own seat to a white man. King could never understand the terrible injustice of this. In 1948, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. Later, King began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and received his Doctor of Philosophy on June 5, 1955. King married Coretta Scott, on June 18, 1953, and they had four children. B. Returning to the South to become pastor of a Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, King first achieved national renown when he helped mobilise the black boycott of the Montgomery bus system in 1955. This was organised after Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man – in the segregated south, black people could only sit at the back of the bus. The 382day boycott led the bus company to change its regulations, and the Supreme Court declared such segrega¬tion unconstitutional.

IELTS Academic Reading Sample 178 - Martin Luther King

Last Updated: Sunday, 02 February 2020 00:13

Written by IELTS Mentor

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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27 - 40 which are based on Reading Passage 178 below

Martin Luther King

A. Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia He was the son of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr and Alberta Williams King He had an older sister, Willie Christine King, and a younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams King Growing up in Atlanta, King attended Booker T Washington High School He skipped ninth and twelfth grade, and entered Morehouse College at age fifteen without formally graduating from high school From the time that

Martin was born, he knew that black people and white people had different rights

in certain parts of America If a black family wanted to eat at a restaurant, they had to sit in a separate section of the restaurant They had to sit at the back of the cinema, and even use separate toilets Worse, and perhaps even more

humiliating still, in many southern states, if a black man was on a bus and all the seats were taken, he would have to endure the indignity of relinquishing his own seat to a white man King could never understand the terrible injustice of this

In 1948, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology Later, King began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and received his Doctor of Philosophy on June 5, 1955 King married Coretta Scott, on June

18, 1953, and they had four children

B Returning to the South to become pastor of a Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, King first achieved national renown when he helped mobilise the black boycott of the Montgomery bus system in 1955 This was organised after Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man – in the segregated south, black people could only sit at the back of the bus The 382-day boycott led the bus company to change its regulations, and the Supreme Court declared such segregation unconstitutional

C. In 1957 King was active in the organisation of the Southern Leadership

Christian Conference (SCLC), formed to co-ordinate protests against

discrimination He advocated non-violent direct action based on the methods of Gandhi, who led protests against British rule in India culminating in India’s

independence in 1947 In 1963, King led mass protests against discriminatory practices in Birmingham, Alabama, where the white population were violently resisting desegregation The city was dubbed ‘Bombingham’ as attacks against civil rights protesters increased, and King was arrested and jailed for his part in the protests

D After his release, King participated in the enormous civil rights march, in

Washington, in August 1963, and delivered his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech, predicting a day when the promise of freedom and equality for all would become

a reality in America In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize In 1965, he led a campaign to register blacks to vote The same year the US Congress

passed the Voting Rights Act outlawing the discriminatory practices that had barred blacks from voting in the south

E As the civil rights movement became increasingly radicalised, King found that his message of peaceful protest was not shared by many in the younger

generation King began to protest against the Vietnam War and poverty levels in the US On March 29, 1968, King went to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of the black sanitary public works employees who had been on strike since March 12 forhigher wages and better treatment In one incident, black street repairmen had received pay for two hours when they were sent home because of bad weather, but white employees had been paid for the full day King could not bear to stand

by and let such patent acts of racism go unnoticed He moved to unite his people,and all the peoples of America on the receiving end of discriminatory practices, toprotest for their rights, peacefully but steadfastly

F On his trip to Memphis, King was booked into room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, owned by Walter Bailey King was shot at 6:01 p.m April 4, 1968 while he was standing on the motel’s second-floor balcony King was rushed to St Joseph’s Hospital, where doctors opened his chest and performed manual heart massage

He was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m King’s autopsy revealed that although he was only 39 years old, he had the heart of a 60-year-old man

Questions 27 – 31:

Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D

27 From a young age Martin Luther King

A wanted to protest for the rights of black people

B could not understand why black people were treated differently

C was not allowed to go to the cinema or to restaurants

D was aware that black people were being humiliated in many northern states

28 What initially made Martin Luther King famous?

A the black boycott of the Montgomery bus system

B becoming a pastor at a Baptist Church

C when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus

D when he persuaded Rosa Parks not to give up her bus seat to a white man

29 What influenced Martin Luther King regarding non-violence?

A India’s independence in 1947

B Christianity

C the Southern Leadership Christian Conference

D the methods of Gandhi

30 What did Martin Luther King fight for in 1965?

A the right of black people to vote

B the actions of the US Congress

C the right to win the Nobel Peace Prize

D the right of black people to travel abroad

31 How did Martin Luther King feel about the civil rights movement?

A It was helping the war in Vietnam

B It brought the younger generation together.

C It had been exploited by politicians who wanted to get more votes

D The protesters sometimes behaved too violently

Questions 32 – 34:

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage3? In spaces 32 – 34 below, write

YES if the statements agrees with the information

NO if the statements contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

32 The black boycott of the Montgomery bus system was a success

33 In 1963 the white people in Alabama wanted desegregation

34 Martin Luther King achieved a lot in his protest against the Vietnam War

Questions 35 – 40:

Reading Passage 178 has 6 paragraphs

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph A – F, from the list of headings Write the correct number, i – viii, in spaces 35 – 40 below.

The memorable speech

Unhappy about violence

A tragic incident

Protests and action

The background of an iconic man

Making his mark internationally

Difficult childhood

Black street repairmen

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Last Updated: Sunday, 28 May 2017 14:08

Written by IELTS Mentor

Although it is hardly used anymore, the telegraph is familiar to most people This early telecommunication devices is credited, as any school student knows, to Samuel Morse, who, in 1844 made the first long-distance electronic

communication via his invention, the Morse's telegraph What is not so commonlyknown is that Morse's was not the only telegraph nor he the only such inventor at this time A rival system, developed by William Cook and Charles Wheatstone, was patented in England in 1845 and was subsequently adopted for use by British rail companies to enable speedy communication between rail stations

However, the Cooke-Wheatstone telegraph, which used six wires and a fragile receiver requiring five magnetic needles, proved to the awkward to use, difficult totransport and expensive to built Morse's version used one wire and a receiver of

a simpler and stronger design This is, no doubt, why it became the favored telegraph in many parts of the world, especially the United States, which built a telegraph line along railway tracks crossing the North American continent, linking eastern cities with western frontiers

Morse chose the Magnetic Telegraph Company to handle the patents for his telegraph

technology, and within seven years of the appearance of his invention, the company had licensed use of the telegraph to more than 50 companies across the US In 1851, twelve of this companies come together to form the Western Union Company By 1866, Western Union had grown to include more than 4000 telegraph offices, almost all in rail stations

Another early telecommunications device is still very much with us the telephone Although the telephone is popularly thought to be the brainchild of one man, Alexander Graham Bell, this is not the while truth Phillip Reis, a schoolteacher in Germany, invented a device in 1861 that he labelled a telephone Reis’s invention was limited to transmitting musical tones, however, and could not send the sound of the human voice across the wire

While Reis was working on his invention, Bell and another man, Elisha Gray, were also working toward the invention of the telephone, though by an indirect route Both were, in fact, seeking ways of allowing multiple telegraph signals to travel along the some telegraph line - a system known as a harmonic telegraph Bell worked in Boston while Gray was based in Chicago, and thetow were rivals in their area of research for both inventors, the perfection of the harmonic telegraph proved too difficult and both, separately but at around the some time, changed plans and started on the development of a telephone Most interesting of all is the fact that both men applied for a patent to the US patent office for their respective telephones on the same day, 14 February 1876 Bell was lucky enough to have arrived a few hours earlier than Gray and so it wasBell whose name was to be forever associated with the telephone The harmonic telegraph,

incidentally, was perfected by Thomas Edison, best known as the inventor of the light built, in 1881.

Rights to Bell’s patent (now recognized as the most valuable patent in history of technology) were offered to Western Union for $100000, with the assumption that the giant telegraph

company would be enthusiastic about the new technology But Western Union disliked Bell's design and instead asked Elisha Gray to make refinements to his original telephone design Bell`scompany began to set up its own business and sell telephones, while Western Union, with its somewhat different design, was its competitor

Competition between the two continued for about two years, but all the while, the Bell company was mounting a legal challenge to Western Union, claiming it held the only true basic patents for the telephone it based its claim on the fact that Bell had beaten Gray to the patent office and so should be the sole recognized inventor of the telephone Eventually, Western Union had to agree with Bell and gave up its telephone rights and patents to the Bell company The telephone

company's entire network of telephones was handed over to the Bell company As compensation, Western Union was given 20 per cent of revenue from rental of its former equipment, this

arrangement was to last until Bell's patents expired In an effort to fight the power the Bell company enjoyed from exclusive rights to Bell's patents, a small telephone company, Pacific Union, established telephone services in the 1920s and 1930s that it claimed were based on the telephone design of Phillips Reis They maintained that because Reis's invention pre-dated Bell1s, the Bell, design was not the first of its kind and, therefore, Bell's patents were not valid Although the court accepted that the company may have been using Reis's technology, it

nonetheless held that only Bell's patents could legally by used

The Bell company, eventually named American Telephone & Telegraph, thus formed an

effective monopoly on telephone services in the United States The company subsequently grew

to such an extent that, a century later, it was the largest privately held enterprise in the world, with more than a million employees controlling communication between more than 100 million telephones In 1984, American Telephone & Telegraph was found by a US court to be too

monopolistic and was ordered to be broken up into several smaller companies

* patent: an official recognition of a person as the inventor of a device

* monopoly: exclusive control of a market

Question 1-6:

Complete the table below Use no more than three words from the reading

passage for each answer

Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

(by surname)

1845 Patent of telegraph (1)

1851 Establishment of (2)

1861 Invention of telephone (3)

1876 Application for patent of (4) Gray

1881 Successful development of (5) Edison

Question 6-10:

Look at the following lists of inventors and companies Match each inventor to one of the companies that used his/their technology Choose E if there is no information in the reading passage.

Write the appropriate letters A-E in boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet.

NB: you may use any letter more than once.

Using no more than three words, answer the following questions Write your answers in

boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.

11) Name one reason why Cooke and Wheatstone's invention was not as successful as Morse's.

12) In what type of location did Western Union typically offer its telegraph services?

13) What sort of information was Reis's original invention able to send?

14) What device did Alexander Graham Bell try but fail to invent?

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Answer:

1 Cooke and Wheatstone

2 Western Union Company

Last Updated: Sunday, 28 May 2017 14:07

Written by IELTS Mentor

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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 - 13 which are based on Reading Passage 180 below

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

WHAT DO SCIENTISTS IN BRITAIN THINK ABOUT ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES? OR LA KENNEDY READS A SURPRISING SURVEY?

Is complementary medicine hocus-pocus or does it warrant large-scale scientific investigation? Should science range beyond conventional medicine and conduct research on alternative medicine and the supposed growing links between mind and body? This will be hotly debated at the British Association for the

Advancement of Science

One Briton in five uses complementary medicine, and according to the most recent Mintel survey, one in ten uses herbalism or homoeopathy Around £130 million is spent on oils, potions and pills every year in Britain, and the

complementary and alternative medicine industry is estimated to be worth £1.6 billion With the help of Professor Edzard Ernst, Laing chair of complementary medicine at The Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth,

we asked scientists their views on complementary and alternative medicine Seventy-five scientists, in fields ranging from molecular biology to neuroscience, replied

Surprisingly, our sample of scientists was twice as likely as the public to use some form of complementary medicine, at around four in 10 compared with two in 10 of the general

population Three quarters of scientific users believed they were effective Acupuncture,

chiropractic and osteopathy were the most commonly used complementary treatments among scientists and more than 55 per cent believed these were more effective than a placebo and should

be available to all on the National Health Service

Scientists appear to place more trust in the more established areas of complementary and

alternative medicine, such as acupuncture, chiropractic and osteopathy, for which there are professional bodies and recognised training, than therapies such as aromatherapy and spiritual

healing ‘Osteopathy is now a registered profession requiring a certified four-year degree before you can advertise and practise,’ said one neuroscientist who used the therapy Nearly two thirds

of the scientists who replied to our survey believed that aromatherapy and homoeopathy were no better than placebos, with almost a half thinking the same of herbalism and spiritual thinking Some of the comments we received were scathing, even though one in ten of our respondents hadused homeopathy ‘Aromatherapy and homoeopathy are scientifically nonsensical,’ said one molecular biologist from the University of Bristol Dr Romke Bron, a molecular biologist at the Medical Research Council Centre at King’s College London, added: ‘Homoeopathy is a big scamand I am convinced that if someone sneaked into a homoeopathic pharmacy and swapped labels, nobody would notice anything.’

Two centuries after homeopathy was introduced, it still lacks a watertight demonstration that it works Scientists are happy that the resulting solutions and sugar baffled by how they can do anything

Both complementary and conventional medicine should be used in routine health care, according

to followers of the ‘intergrated health approach’, who want to treat an individual ‘as a whole’ But the scientists who responded to our surveys expressed serious concerns about this approach, with more than half believing that integrated medicine was an attempt to bypass rigorous

scientific testing Dr Bron said: ‘There is an awful lot of bad science going on in alternative medicine and the general public has a hard time to distinguish between scientific myth and fact It

is absolutely paramount to maintain rigorous quality control in health care Although the majority

of alternative health workers mean well, there are just too many frauds out there preying on vulnerable people.’

One molecular biologist from the University of Warwick admitted that ‘by doing this poll I have realised how shamefully little I understand about alternative therapy Not enough scientific research has been performed There is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that at least some of the alternative therapies are effective for some people, suggesting this is an area ripe for

research.’

When asked if complementary and alternative medicine should get more research funding, scientists believed the top three (acupuncture, chiropractic and osteopathy) should get money, as should herbalism It seems that therapies based on physical manipulation or a known action – likethe active ingredients in a herb on a receptor in the body – are the ones that the scientific

community has faith in Less than a quarter thought that therapies such as aromatherapy,

homoeopathy and spiritual healing should get any funding

Scientists believed that the ‘feelgood’ counselling effect of complementary medicine and the timetaken to listen to patients’ problems was what worked, rather than any medicinal effect In

contrast, the average visit to the doctor lasts only eight minutes, says the British Medical

Association Dr Stephen Nurrish, a molecular biologist at University College London, said:

‘Much of the benefit people get from complementary medicine is the time to talk to someone and

be listened to sympathetically, something that is now lacking from medicine in general.’

But an anonymous neuroscientist at King’s College London had a more withering view of this benefit: ‘On the validity of complementary and alternative medicines, no one would dispute that

‘feeling good’ is good for your health, but why discriminate between museum-trip therapy,

patting-a-dog therapy and aromatherapy? Is it because only the latter has a cadre of professional

‘practitioners’?’

There are other hardline scientists who argue that there should be no such thing as

complementary and alternative medicine As Professor David Moore, director of the Medical Research Council’s Institute for Hearing Research, said: ‘Either a treatment works or it doesn’t The only way to determine if it works is to test it against appropriate controls (that is,

scientifically).’

Questions 1-6:

Look at the following views (Questions 1 - 6) and the list of people below them.

Match each view with the person expressing it in the passage Write the correct

letter A- E in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once

1 Complementary medicine provides something that conventional medicine no

longer does

2 It is hard for people to know whether they are being told the truth or nor.

3 Certain kinds of complementary and alternative medicine are taken seriously

because of the number of people making money from them

4 Nothing can be considered a form of medicine unless it has been proved

effective

5 It seems likely that some forms of alternative medicine do work.

6 One particular kind of alternative medicine is a deliberate attempt to cheat the

public

List of People

Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-F from the box below.

Write the correct letter A-F in boxes 7-9 on your answer sheet.

7 The British Association for the Advancement of Science will be discussing the

A what makes people use complementary rather than conventional medicine.

B how many scientists themselves use complementary and alternative medicine.

C whether alternative medicine should be investigated scientifically.

D research into the use of complementary and conventional medicine together.

E how many people use various kinds of complementary medicine.

F the extent to which attitudes to alternative medicine are changing.

Questions 10-13:

Classify the following information as being given about

A acupuncture

B aromatherapy

C herbalism

D homoeopathy

Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet

10 scientists believe that it is ineffective but harmless.

11 Scientists felt that it could he added to the group of therapies that deserved

to be provided with resources for further investigation

12 Scientists felt that it deserved to be taken seriously because of the organised

way in which it has developed

13 A number of scientists had used it, but harsh criticism was expressed about it.

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IELTS Academic Reading Sample 181 - Private Schools

Last Updated: Sunday, 28 May 2017 14:05

Written by IELTS Mentor

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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14 - 26 which are based on Reading Passage 181 below

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Most countries’ education systems have had what you might call educational disasters, but, sadly, in many areas of certain countries these disasters’ are still evident today The English education system is unique due to the fact that there are still dozens of schools which are known as private schools and they

perpetuate privilege and social division Most countries have some private

schools for the children of the wealthy; England is able to more than triple the average number globally England has around 3,000 private schools and just under half a million children are educated at them whilst some nine million

children are educated at state schools The overwhelming majority of students at private schools also come from middle-class families

The result of this system is evident and it has much English history embedded within it The facts seem to speak for themselves In the private system almost half the students go on to University, whilst in the state system, only about eight per cent make it to further education However, statistics such as these can be deceptive due to the fact that middle-class children do better at examinations than working class ones, and most of them stay on at school after 16 Private schools, therefore, have the advantage over state schools as they are entirely

‘middle class’, and this creates an environment of success where students work harder and apply themselves more diligently to their school work

Private schools are extortionately expensive, being as much as £18,000 a year atsomewhere such as Harrow or Eton, where Princes William and Harry attended, and at least £8,000 a year almost everywhere else There are many parents who are not wealthy or even comfortably off but are willing to sacrifice a great deal in the cause of their children’s schooling It baffles many people as to why they need to spend such vast amounts when there are perfectly acceptable state schools that don’t cost a penny One father gave his reasoning for sending his son to a private school, ‘If my son gets a five-percent-better chance of going to University then that may be the difference between success and failure.” It would seem to the average person that a £50,000 minimum total cost of second level education is a lot to pay for a five-percent-better chance Most children, given the choice, would take the money and spend it on more enjoyable things rather than shelling it out on a school that is too posh for its own good

However, some say that the real reason that parents fork out the cash is

prejudice: they don’t want their little kids mixing with the “workers”, or picking up

an undesirable accent In addition to this, it wouldn’t do if at the next dinner party all the guests were boasting about sending their kids to the same place where theson of the third cousin of Prince Charles is going, and you say your kid is going tothe state school down the road, even if you could pocket the money for yourself instead, and, as a result, be able to serve the best Champagne with the smoked salmon and duck

It is a fact, however, that at many of the best private schools, your money buys you something One school, with 500 pupils, has 11 science laboratories; anotherschool with 800 pupils, has 30 music practice rooms; another has 16 squash courts, and yet another has its own beach Private schools spend £300 per pupil

a year on investment in buildings and facilities; the state system spends less than

£50 On books, the ratio is 3 to 1

One of the things that your money buys which is difficult to quantify is the

appearance of the school, the way it looks Most private schools that you will find are set in beautiful, well-kept country houses, with extensive grounds and

gardens In comparison with the state schools, they tend to look like castles, with the worst of the state schools looking like public lavatories, perhaps even tiled or covered in graffiti Many may even have an architectural design that is just about

on the level of an industrial shed

Question 14 – 20:

Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D Write the correct answer (A, B, C or D) in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet

14 The English educational system differs from the other ones because

A it tries to make state and private equal

B more students are educated at private schools than state schools

C it contributes to creating a class system within society

D it is more expensive to run

15 There are more private school children who go to university because

A the lessons and teachers at the private schools are much better

B their parents often send their children to private schools

C they have more teaching hours

D the school create a successful environment

16 A lot of parents often send their children to private schools

A because they are not well-informed

B to show how much money they have to their friends

C to increase their chances of succeeding in the university exams

D because of the better sports facilities

17 It is suggested that some parents of children at private schools are

A prejudiced and superficial

B more intelligent that those with children at state schools

C well-brought-up and cultivated

D overly protective

18 Private schools

A always have their own beaches

B teach sports that state schools do not

C spend more money per student than state schools

D spend more money on hiring good teachers

19 The writer thinks that private-school buildings

A are very attractive and luxurious

B generally do not look very nice

C are too big for the amount of students who attend the school

D are not built to suit student’s needs

20 In general, what do you think the writer’s opinion of private schools is?

A It isn’t fair that those without money can’t attend them

B They divide social classes but they offer better facilities and a more creative environment

C There is little difference between private and state schools

D They have the best teachers

Questions 21 – 26:

Complete the sentences below Write the correct answer in boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

The fact that there are so many private schools in England, in comparison to other countries, makes the English educational system 21 Most students in these schools are from 22 families These students seem to do better at exams although statistics can be 23 One of the advantages of private schools is that they seem to provide students with a better, more positive environment that encourages them to 24 themselves

to their school work with more enthusiasm A lot of not very well-off parents makehuge sacrifices for their children’s 25 to help them go to respectable universities Unfortunately, many state school buildings sometimes have the appearance of an industrial 26

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Last Updated: Sunday, 02 February 2020 00:22

Written by IELTS Mentor

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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 182 below.

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 109 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 theyare practised today At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that issuitable 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 thepromise 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 ofthe 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

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 generationfrom 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 enoughsunlight This system is already in operation, and works well within a single-storeygreenhouse 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

Questions 1-7

Complete the sentences below

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

Write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

Indoor farming

1 Some food plants, including ……… are already grown indoors

2 Vertical farms would be located in ……… , meaning that there would be less need to take them long distances to customers

3 Vertical farms could use methane from plants and animals to produce

7 The most probable development is that food will be grown on

……… in towns and cities

Questions 8-13

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage182?

In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet, write

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

IELTS Academic Reading Sample 183 - The Falkirk Wheel

Last Updated: Sunday, 28 May 2017 22:12

Written by IELTS Mentor

A unique engineering achievement

The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland is the world's first and only rotating boat lift Opened in 2002, it is central to the ambitious £84.5m Millennium Link project to restore navigability across Scotland by reconnecting the historic waterways of theForth & Clyde and Union Canals

The major challenge of the project lays in the fact that the Forth & Clyde Canal is situated 35 metres below the level of the Union Canal Historically, the two canals had been joined near the town of Falkirk by a sequence of 11 locks - enclosed sections of canal in which the water level could be raised or lowered - that stepped down across a distance of 1.5 km This had been dismantled in

1933, thereby breaking the link When the project was launched in 1994, the British Waterways authority were keen to create a dramatic twenty-first-century landmark which would not only be a fitting commemoration of the Millennium, but also a lasting symbol of the economic regeneration of the region

Numerous ideas were submitted for the project, including concepts ranging from rolling eggs to tilting tanks, from giant seesaws to overhead monorails The eventual winner was a plan for the huge rotating steel boat lift which was to become The Falkirk Wheel The unique shape of the structure is claimed to have been inspired by various sources, both manmade and natural, most notably a Celtic double headed axe, but also the vast turning propeller of a ship, the

ribcage of a whale or the spine of a fish

The various parts of The Falkirk Wheel were all constructed and assembled, like one giant toy building set, at Butterley Engineering's Steelworks in

Derbyshire, some 400 km from Falkirk A team there carefully assembled the 1,200 tonnes of steel, painstakingly fitting the pieces together to an accuracy of just 10 mm to ensure a perfect final fit In the summer of 2001, the structure was then dismantled and transported on 35 lorries to Falkirk, before all being bolted back together again on the ground, and finally lifted into position in five large sections by crane The Wheel would need to withstand immense and constantly changing stresses as it rotated, so to make the structure more robust, the steel sections were bolted rather than welded together Over 45,000 bolt holes were matched with their bolts, and each bolt was hand-tightened

The Wheel consists of two sets of opposing axe-shaped arms, attached about

25 metres apart to a fixed central spine Two diametrically opposed water-filled 'gondolas', each with a capacity of 360,000 litres, are fitted between the ends of the arms These gondolas always weigh the same, whether or not they are

carrying boats This is because, according to Archimedes' principle of

displacement, floating objects displace their own weight in water So when a boat enters a gondola, the amount of water leaving the gondola weighs exactly the same as the boat This keeps the Wheel balanced and so, despite its enormous mass, it rotates through 180° in five and a half minutes while using very little power It takes just 1.5 kilowatt-hours (5.4 MJ) of energy to rotate the Wheel -roughly the same as boiling eight small domestic kettles of water

Boats needing to be lifted up enter the canal basin at the level of the Forth & Clyde Canal and then enter the lower gondola of the Wheel Two hydraulic steel gates are raised, so as to seal the gondola off from the water in the canal basin The water between the gates is then pumped out A hydraulic clamp, which

prevents the arms of the Wheel moving while the gondola is docked, is removed, allowing the Wheel to turn In the central machine room, an array of ten hydraulic motors then begins to rotate the central axle The axle connects to the outer arms

of the Wheel, which begin to rotate at a speed of 1/8 of a revolution per minute

As the wheel rotates, the gondolas are kept in the upright position by a simple gearing system Two eight-metre-wide cogs orbit a fixed inner cog of the same width, connected by two smaller cogs travelling in the opposite direction to the outer cogs - so ensuring that the gondolas always remain level When the

gondola reaches the top, the boat passes straight onto the aqueduct situated 24 metres above the canal basin

The remaining 11 metres of lift needed to reach the Union Canal is achieved

by means of a pair of locks The Wheel could not be constructed to elevate boats over the full 35-metre difference between the two canals, owing to the presence

of the historically important Antonine Wall, which was built by the Romans in the second century AD Boats travel under this wall via a tunnel, then through the locks, and finally on to the Union Canal

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?

In boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

14 The Falkirk Wheel has linked the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal for the first time in their history

15 There was some opposition to the design of the Falkirk Wheel at first

16 The Falkirk Wheel was initially put together at the location where its

components were manufactured

17 The Falkirk Wheel is the only boat lift in the world which has steel sections bolted together by hand

18 The weight of the gondolas varies according to the size of boat being carried

19 The construction of the Falkirk Wheel site took into account the presence of a nearby ancient monument

Questions 20-26

Label the diagram below

Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 20-26 on your answer sheet.

Click the button to Show/ Hide Answers.

IELTS Academic Reading Sample 184 - Reducing the

Effects of Climate Change

Last Updated: Sunday, 28 May 2017 22:11

Written by IELTS Mentor

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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below

Reducing the Effects of Climate Change

Mark Rowe reports on the increasingly ambitious geo-engineering

projects being explored by scientists

A

Such is our dependence on fossil fuels, and such is the volume of carbon dioxide already released into the atmosphere, that many experts agree that significant global warming is now inevitable They believe that the best we can do is keep it

at a reasonable level, and at present, the only serious option for doing this is cutting back on our carbon emissions But while a few countries are making majorstrides in this regard, the majority are having great difficulty even stemming the rate of increase, let alone reversing it Consequently, an increasing number of scientists are beginning to explore the alternative of geo-engineering — a term which generally refers to the intentional large-scale manipulation of the

environment According to its proponents, geo-engineering is the equivalent of a

backup generator: if Plan A - reducing our dependency on fossil fuels - fails, we require a Plan B, employing grand schemes to slow down or reverse the process

of global warming

B

Geo-engineering; has been shown to work, at least on a small localised scale For decades, MayDay parades in Moscow have taken place under clear blue skies, aircraft having deposited dry ice, silver iodide and cement powder to

disperse clouds Many of the schemes now suggested look to do the opposite, and reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the planet The most eye-catching idea of all is suggested by Professor Roger Angel of the University of Arizona Hisscheme would employ up to 16 trillion minute spacecraft, each weighing about one gram, to form a transparent, sunlight-refracting sunshade in an orbit 1.5 million km above the Earth This could, argues Angel, reduce the amount of light reaching the Earth by two per cent

C

The majority of geo-engineering projects so far carried out — which include

planting forests in deserts and depositing iron in the ocean to stimulate the

growth of algae - have focused on achieving a general cooling of the Earth But some look specifically at reversing the melting at the poles, particularly the Arctic.The reasoning is that if you replenish the ice sheets and frozen waters of the highlatitudes, more light will be reflected back into space, so reducing the warming of the oceans and atmosphere

D

The concept of releasing aerosol sprays into the stratosphere above the Arctic has been proposed by several scientists This would involve using sulphur or hydrogen sulphide aerosols so that sulphur dioxide would form clouds, which would, in turn, lead to a global dimming The idea is modelled on historic volcanic explosions, such as that of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, which led

to a short-term cooling of global temperatures by 0.5 °C Scientists have also scrutinised whether it's possible to preserve the ice sheets of Greenland with reinforced high-tension cables, preventing icebergs from moving into the sea Meanwhile, in the Russian Arctic, geo-engineering plans include the planting of millions of birch trees Whereas the -regions native evergreen pines shade the snow an absorb radiation, birches would shed their leaves in winter, thus

enabling radiation to be reflected by the snow Re-routing Russian rivers to

increase cold water flow to ice-forming areas could also be used to slow down warming, say some climate scientists

E

But will such schemes ever be implemented? Generally speaking, those who are most cautious about geo-engineering are the scientists involved in the research Angel says that his plan is ‘no substitute for developing renewable energy: the only permanent solution' And Dr Phil Rasch of the US-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is equally guarded about the role of geo-engineering: 'I think all of us agree that if we were to end geo-engineering on a given day, then the planet would return to its pre-engineered condition very rapidly, and probably within ten to twenty years That’s certainly something to worry about.’

F

The US National Center for Atmospheric Research has already suggested that the proposal to inject sulphur into the atmosphere might affect rainfall patterns across the tropics and the Southern Ocean ‘Geo-engineering plans to inject stratospheric aerosols or to seed clouds would act to cool the planet, and act to increase the extent of sea ice,’ says Rasch ‘But all the models suggest some impact on the distribution of precipitation.’

G

A further risk with geo-engineering projects is that you can “overshoot Y says Dr Dan Hunt, from the University of Bristol’s School of Geophysical Sciences, who has studied the likely impacts of the sunshade and aerosol schemes on the climate ‘You may bring global temperatures back to pre-industrial levels, but the risk is that the poles will still be warmer than they should be and the tropics will becooler than before industrialisation.’To avoid such a scenario,” Hunt says,

“Angel’s project would have to operate at half strength; all of which reinforces his view that the best option is to avoid the need for geo-engineering altogether.”

H

The main reason why geo-engineering is supported by many in the scientific community is that most researchers have little faith in the ability of politicians to agree - and then bring in — the necessary carbon cuts Even leading

conservation organisations see the value of investigating the potential of

geo-engineering According to Dr Martin Sommerkorn, climate change advisor for the World Wildlife Fund’s International Arctic Programme, ‘Human-induced climate change has brought humanity to a position where we shouldn’t exclude thinking thoroughly about this topic and its possibilities.’

Questions 27-29

Reading Passage 184 has eight paragraphs A-H

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 27-29 on your answer sheet.

27 mention of a geo-engineering project based on an earlier natural

phenomenon

28 an example of a successful use of geo-engineering

29 a common definition of geo-engineering

Questions 30-36

Complete the table below

Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer Write your answers in

boxes 30-36 on your answer sheet

Questions 37-40

Look at the following statements (Questions 37-40) and the list of scientists below

Match each statement with the correct scientist, A-D

Write the correct letter, A-D, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet

37 The effects of geo-engineering may not be long-lasting

38 Geo-engineering is a topic worth exploring

39 It may be necessary to limit the effectiveness of geo-engineering projects

40 Research into non-fossil-based fuels cannot be replaced by geo-engineering

Click the button to Show/ Hide Answers.

Last Updated: Sunday, 02 February 2020 00:36

Written by IELTS Mentor

In order to determine whether higher education is worth the investment, it is useful to examine what is known about the value of higher education and the rates of return on investment to both the individual and to society

THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

There is considerable support for the notion that the rate of return on investment

in higher education is high enough to warrant the financial burden associated withpursuing a college degree Though the earnings differential between college and high school graduates varies over time, college graduates, on average, earn more than high school graduates According to the Census Bureau, over an adult's working life, high school graduates earn an average of $1.2 million;

associate’s degree holders earn about $1.6 million; and bachelor’s degree

holders earn about $2.1 million (Day and Newburger, 2002)

These sizeable differences in lifetime earnings put the costs of college study in realistic perspective Most students today—about 80 percent of all students—enroll either in public four- year colleges or in public two-year colleges According

to the U.S Department of Education report Think College Early, a full-time

student at a public four-year college pays an average of $8,655 for in-state

tuition, room, and board (U.S Department of Education, 2002) A full-time student

in a public two-year college pays an average of $1,359 per year in tuition (U.S Department of Education, 2002)

These statistics support the contention that, though the cost of higher education

is significant, given the earnings disparity that exists between those who earn a bachelor's degree and those who do not, the individual rate of return on

investment in higher education is sufficiently high to warrant the cost

OTHER BENEFITS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

College graduates also enjoy benefits beyond increased income A 1998 report published by the Institute for Higher Education Policy reviews the individual

benefits that college graduates enjoy, including higher levels of saving, increased personal/professional mobility, improved quality of life for their offspring, better consumer decision making, and more hobbies and leisure activities (Institute for Higher Education Policy, 1998) According to a report published by the Carnegie Foundation, nonmonetary individual benefits of higher education include the tendency for postsecondary students to become more open-minded, more

cultured, more rational, more consistent, and less authoritarian; these benefits are also passed along to succeeding generations (Rowley and Hurtado, 2002) Additionally, college attendance has been shown to "decrease prejudice,

enhance knowledge of world affairs and enhance social status" while

increasing economic and job security for those who earn bachelor’s degrees

(Ibid.) Research has also consistently shown a positive correlation between completion of higher education and good health, not only for oneself, but also for one’s children In fact, "parental schooling levels (after controlling for differences

in earnings) are positively correlated with the health status of their children" and Increased schooling (and higher relative income) are correlated with lower

mortality rates for given age brackets" (Cohn and Geske, 1992)

THE SOCIAL VALUE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

A number of studies have shown a high correlation between higher education andcultural and family values, and economic growth According to Elchanan Cohn and Terry Geske (1992), there is the tendency for more highly educated women

to spend more time with their children; these women tend to use this time to better prepare their children for the future Cohn and Geske (1992) report that

"college graduates appear to have a more optimistic view of their past and future personal progress."

Public benefits of attending college include increased tax revenues, greater

workplace productivity, increased consumption, increased workforce flexibility, and decreased reliance on government financial support (Institute for Higher Education Policy, 1998)

CONCLUSION

While it is clear that investment in a college degree, especially for those students

in the lowest income brackets, is a financial burden, the long-term benefits to individuals as well as to society at large, appear to far outweigh the costs

Questions 1-4

Do the following statements agree with the information in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1-4 on your Answer Sheet, write

TRUE if the statement is true according to the passage.

FALSE if the statement contradicts the passage.

NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage.

1 The cost of a college education has remained steady for several years

2 Some people have to borrow large amounts of money to pay for college

3 About 80 percent of college students study at public colleges.

4 Public colleges cost less than private colleges

Questions 5-9

Complete the fact sheet below

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

Write your answers in boxes 5-9 on your Answer Sheet

Financial Costs and Benefits of Higher Education

The average high school graduate makes a little more than one million dollars

in 5

The average person with an associate’s degree earns 6

The average 7 makes over two million dollars.

The average student at a four year college spends 8 $ a year on

classes, housing, and food

The average student at a two-year college spends $1,359 on 9

Questions 10-13

The list below shows some benefits which college graduates may enjoy more of

as compared to noncollege graduates

Which four of these benefits are mentioned in the article?

Write the appropriate letters A-G in boxes 10-13 on your Answer Sheet

A They own bigger houses.

B They are more optimistic about their lives.

C They save more money.

D They enjoy more recreational activities.

E They have healthier children.

F They travel more frequently.

G They make more purchases.

Click the button to Show/ Hide Answers.

6 $1.6 million / 1.6 million dollar(s)

7 Bachelor's degree holder

Last Updated: Sunday, 28 May 2017 22:09

Written by IELTS Mentor

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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 186 below

Less Television, Less Violence and Aggression

Cutting back on television, videos, and video games reduce acts of aggression among schoolchildren, according to a study by Dr Thomas Robinson and others from the Stanford University School of Medicine The study, published in the January 2001 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, found that third- and fourth-grade students who took part in a curriculum to reduce their

TV, video, and video game use engaged in fewer acts of verbal and physical aggression than their peers The study took place in two similar San Jose,

California, elementary schools Students in one school underwent an 18-lesson, 6-month program designed to limit their media usage, while the others did not Both groups of students had similar reports of aggressive behavior at the

beginning of the study After the six-month program, however, the two groups hadvery real differences The students who cut back on their TV time engaged in six fewer acts of verbal aggression per hour and rated 2.4 percent fewer of their classmates as aggressive after the program

Physical acts of violence, parental reports of aggressive behavior, and

perceptions of a mean and scary world also decreased, but the authors suggest further study to solidify these results.

Although many studies have shown that children who watch a lot of TV are more likely to act violently, this report further verifies that television, videos, and video games actually cause the violent behavior, and it is among the first to evaluate a solution to the problem Teachers at the intervention school included the program

in their existing curriculum Early lessons encouraged students to keep track of and report on the time they spent watching TV or videos, or playing Video games,

to motivate them to limit those activities on their own The initial lessons were followed by TV-Turnoff, an organization that encourages less TV viewing For ten days, students were challenged to go without television, videos, or video games After that, teachers encouraged the students to stay within a media allowance of seven hours per week Almost all students participated in the Turnoff, and most stayed under their budget for the following weeks Additional lessons encouragedchildren to use their time more selectively, and many of the final lessons had students themselves advocate reducing screen activities

This study is by no means the first to find a link between television and violence Virtually all of 3,500 research studies on the subject in the past 40 years have shown the same relationship, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics Among the most noteworthy studies is Dr Leonard D Eron’s, which found that exposure to television violence in childhood is the strongest predictor of

aggressive behavior later in life—stronger even than violent behavior as children The more violent television the subjects watched at age eight, the more serious was their aggressive behavior even 22 years later Another study by Dr Brandon

S Centerwall found that murder rates climb after the introduction of television In the United States and Canada, murder rates doubled 10 to 15 years after the introduction of television, after the first TV generation grew up

Centerwall tested this pattern in South Africa, where television broadcasts were banned until 1975 Murder rates in South Africa remained relatively steady from the mid-1940s through the mid- 1970s By 1987, however, the murder rate had increased 130 percent from its 1974 level The murder rates in the United States and Canada had leveled 1 off in the meantime Centerwall's study implies that themedium of television, not just the content, promotes violence and the current study by Dr Robinson supports that conclusion The Turnoff did not specifically

target violent television, nor did the following allowance period Reducing

television, in general, reduces aggressive behavior Even television that is not

“violent” is more violent than real life and may lead viewers to believe that

violence is funny, inconsequential, and a viable solution to problems Also,

watching television of any content robs us of the time to interact with real people Watching too much TV may inhibit the skills and patience we need to get along with others without resorting to aggression TV, as a medium, promotes

aggression and violence The best solution is to turn it off

Questions 14-20

Complete the summary using words from the box below Write your answers in

boxes 14-20 on your Answer Sheet.

A study that was published in January 2001 found that when

children 14 less, they behaved less 15 Students in a

California elementary school participated in the study, which

lasted 16 By the end of the study, the children’s behavior had

changed For example, the children’s 17 reported that the children

were acting less violently than before During the study, the children kept a record

of the 18 they watched TV Then, for ten days,

they 19 Near the end of the study, the students began to suggest watching 20

FALSE if the statement contradicts the passage.

NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage.

21 Only one study has found a connection between TV and violent behavior.

22 There were more murders in Canada after people began watching TV.

23 The United States has more violence on TV than other countries.

24 TV was introduced in South Africa in the 1940s.

Questions 25 and 26

For each question, choose the correct letter A-D and write it in boxes 25 and 26

on your Answer Sheet

25 According to the passage,

A) only children are affected by violence on TV

B) only violent TV programs cause violent behavior

C) children who watch too much TV get poor grades in school

D) watching a lot of TV may beep us from learning important social skills

26 The authors of this passage believe that

A) some violent TV programs are funny

B) the best plan is to stop watching TV completely

C) it’s better to watch TV with other people than on your own

D) seven hours a week of TV watching is acceptable

Click the button to Show/ Hide Answers.

Last Updated: Sunday, 28 May 2017 22:07

Written by IELTS Mentor

Write the appropriate numbers (i-vii) in boxes 27-30 on your Answer Sheet

There are more headings than sections, so you will not use all of them

i Top Ocean Predators

ii Toxic Exposure

iii Declining Fish Populations

iv Pleasure Boating in the San Juan Islands

v Underwater Noise

vi Smog in Large Cities

vii Impact of Boat Traffic

vi Impact of Boat Traffic

Issues Affecting the Southern Resident Orcas

A Orcas, also known as killer whales, are opportunistic feeders, which means they will take a variety of different prey species J, K, and L pods (specific groups

of orcas found in the region) are almost exclusively fish eaters Some studies show that up to 90 percent of their diet is salmon, with Chinook salmon being far and away their favorite During the last 50 years, hundreds of wild runs of salmon have become extinct due to habitat loss and overfishing of wild stocks Many of the extinct salmon stocks are the winter runs of chinook and coho Although the

surviving stocks have probably been sufficient to sustain the resident pods, many

of the runs that have been lost were undoubtedly traditional resources favored by the resident orcas This may be affecting the whales’ nutrition in the winter and may require them to change their patterns of movement in order to search for food

Other studies with tagged whales have shown that they regularly dive up to 800 feet in this area Researchers tend to think that during these deep dives the whales may be feeding on bottomfish Bottomfish species in this area would include halibut, rockfish, lingcod, and greenling Scientists estimate that today’s lingcod population in northern Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia is only 2 percent of what it was in 1950 The average size of rockfish in the recreational catch has also declined by several inches since the 1970s, which is indicative of overfishing In some locations, certain rockfish species have disappeared entirely

So even if bottomfish are not a major food resource for the whales, the present low number of available fish increases the pressure on orcas and all marine animals to find food (For more information on bottomfish see the San Juan

County Bottomfish Recovery Program.)

B Toxic substances accumulate in higher concentrations as they move up the food chain Because

orcas t are the top predator in the ocean and are at the top of several different food chains in the environment, they tend to be more affected by pollutants than other sea creatures Examinations

of stranded killer whales have shown some extremely high levels of lead, mercury, and

polychlorinated hydrocarbons Abandoned marine toxic waste dumps and present levels of industrial and human refuse pollution of the inland waters probably presents the most serious threat to the continued existence of this orca population Unfortunately, the total remedy to this huge problem would be broad societal changes on many fronts But because of the fact that orcas are so popular, they may be the best species to use as a focal point in bringing about the many changes that need to be made in order to protect the marine environment as a whole from further toxic poisoning.'

C The waters around the San Juan Islands are extremely busy due to international commercial

shipping, fishing, whale watching, and pleasure boating On a busy weekend day in the summer,

it is not uncommon to see numerous boats in the vicinity of the whales as they travel through the area The potential impacts from all this vessel traffic with regard to the whales and other marine animals in the area could be tremendous

The surfacing and breathing space of marine birds and mammals is a critical aspect of their habitat, which the animals must consciously deal with on a moment-to-moment basis throughout their lifetimes With all the boating activity in the vicinity, there are three ways in which surface impacts are most likely to affect marine animals: (a) collision, (b) collision avoidance, and (c)