ELC501_Test_1_Apr2014

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This examination paper consists of 10 printed pages Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL

CONFIDENTIAL

LG/APR 2014/ELC501

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

COURSE : ENGLISH FOR CRITICAL ACADEMIC READING

COURSE CODE : ELC501

TEST 1 : APRIL 2014

TIME : 1 HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES 1. This question paper consists of ten (10) questions 2. Answer ALL questions in the Question Paper. 3. Fill in the details below :

UiTM STUDENT CARD NO : __________________________________ PROGRAMME / CODE : __________________________________ PART : __________________________________ ENGLISH LANGUAGE GROUP : __________________________________ NAME OF LECTURER : __________________________________

4. You are allowed to bring in your English-English Dictionary. 5. Please check to make sure that this examination pack consists of :

i) the Question Paper

CONFIDENTIAL 2 LG/APR 2014/ELC501

Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL

TOTAL MARKS: 30 MARKS

Read the following article and answer ALL the questions that follow.

I

II

III

IV

Playing God with the Climate

In recent times scientists have watched with mounting alarm as carbon dioxide

concentrations, particularly boosted by the explosive growth in China,

increased relentlessly. Just last year the World Bank warned that "we're on

track for a 4C warmer world marked by extreme heat waves, depleting global

food stocks, declining ecosystems and biodiversity, and life-threatening sea

level rise". Against this backdrop, scientists began to talk about responses to

this potential climate emergency and the idea of geo-engineering was born.

More than 40 schemes have now been put forward to the World Bank, all of

which would deliberately intervene in our climate system. The idea is gaining

traction, with Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, committing several million

dollars to finance research into geo-engineering and Richard Branson, the

founder of Virgin Group, promoting it as a response to climate change. Even

top oil companies are quietly backing geo-engineering studies, in anticipation

of a shift in the worlds political landscape.

So how can we engineer the climate? There are plenty of theories out there

from manipulating the Earth's cloud cover to changing the ocean's chemical

composition and also blanketing the planet with a layer of sunlight-reflecting

particles. Some of these schemes are grand in conception, some are prosaic;

some are purely speculative while some are all too feasible. It would take

decades before we could discover whether attempting to engineer the climate

is a glorious enterprise or ruinous folly. In the meantime here is a look at some

of the surprising possibilities being suggested.

As the ice in the Arctic sea melts, the Earth loses some of its reflectivity as

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VII

white ice is replaced by dark seawater which absorbs more heat. To counter

this effect, a large area of the Earth's surface could be whitened, allowing

more of the sun's warmth to be reflected back into space. In fact, a number of

schemes have been proposed, including painting roofs white; however, such

schemes are unlikely to make any significant difference globally.

What might be helpful, though, would be to cut down all of the forests in

Siberia and Canada. While it is generally believed that having more forests is a

good thing as trees absorb carbon, boreal (northern) forests have a downside.

Compared to the snow-covered forest floor beneath, the trees in the boreal

forest are dark and absorb more solar radiation. If they were felled, the

exposed ground would reflect a significantly greater proportion of incoming

solar radiation and the Earth would, therefore, be cooler. However, if such a

suggestion appears outrageous, it is rightly so because matters are never so

simple in the Earth system. Warming would cause snow on the denuded

lands to melt, and the situation would end up worse than before the forests

were cleared.

Another scheme is to reduce solar radiation before it gets to Earth. One

proposal is to spray sulphur dioxide or sulphuric acid into the upper

atmosphere to form tiny particles that would reflect an extra one to two per

cent of incoming solar radiation back into space, thereby cooling the planet.

The most likely delivery method is a fleet of customised high-flying aircraft

fitted with tanks and spraying equipment, although the idea of a hose

suspended in the sky is also being studied. In fact, this involves installing a

radiative shield between the Earth and the sun, one that could be adjusted by

those who control it to regulate the temperature of the planet.

How effective would such a solar filter be in suppressing the warming of the

Earth? All the proposed models indicate that if we reduced the amount of

sunlight reaching the planet, the Earth would indeed cool fairly quickly and

evenly, although less effectively at the poles. The models also show that

rainfall pattern would revert to how it was before the warming of the Earth

occurred. Meanwhile, some studies indicate that the Indian monsoon could be

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seriously disrupted, thus affecting food supplies for up to two billion people if

this solar filter is used.

In view of the possible disruption to the Indian monsoon, atmospheric

scientists are a little apprehensive of using solar filter. They argue that the

climate system is so complex that it is impossible to draw any firm conclusions

about the effects of such a radical intervention in the Earth system. They

further maintain that one problem with sulphate aerosol spraying, described as

the "killer objection", is that we can only get a good idea of how it would work

through full-scale implementation. Even then, we would need at least ten years

of global climate data before we had enough information to isolate the effects

of sulphate aerosol spraying from natural climate variability and, indeed, from

the effects of other human-induced climate change. To add to the risks, if after

ten years, the accumulated data indicate that our intervention was not a good

idea, it may be impossible to terminate the solar shield.

The next proposal is to extend the distance between the Earth and the sun. In

1993, Climatic Change published a novel scheme by P.C. Jain, an Indian

physicist, to counter global warming. Professor Jain found that the amount of

solar radiation reaching the earth varies in inverse square to the distance of

the Earth from the sun. He, therefore, proposed that the effects of global

warming could be countered by increasing the radius of the Earth's orbit

around the sun. An orbital expansion of 1 to 2 per cent would do it, although

one of the side effects would be to add 5.5 days to each year. He then

calculated how much energy would be needed to bring about such a shift in

the Earth's celestial orbit. The answer is more than the amount of energy

humans would consume over 100 billion years (the age of the universe is

around 14 billion years).

When we dig up and burn fossil carbon, we make use of its trapped energy;

but the carbon atoms do not disappear. So where do they go? First they go

into the atmosphere. Some are then soaked up by vegetation. Some sooner

or later end up in the various layers of the oceans. The deep ocean has the

capacity to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and

it would help if we could get more carbon down there.

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But how do we get carbon to the deep ocean? The answer lies in what is

known as the biological pump, a process whereby the carbon in the

atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean and driven down to the seabed. Tiny

marine plants known as phytoplankton grow by combining carbon dioxide,

various minerals and sunlight to multiply into blooms. Upon death, the plankton

will sink and drag the carbon down with it to the ocean floor. The effectiveness

of the biological pump depends on the suitability of conditions for marine life,

including the availability of micronutrients, especially iron. If a shortage of iron

is limiting plankton growth in an area of the ocean, then perhaps the artificial

addition of the missing ingredient, that is iron, can stimulate algal blooms.

Fertilising some areas of the ocean with iron slurry does indeed induce algal

blooms which make the ocean look greener. However, it turns out that much of

the carbon absorbed by the phytoplankton does not find its way to the ocean

floor. This is because while circulating in the surface waters, phytoplankton

would have been eaten by other marine creatures, subsequently causing the

emission of carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. So, while iron

fertilisation stimulates biological productivity in one area, nutrient stealing can

see this productivity fall in others. As Robert Anderson, senior scholar at

Lamont-Doherty Observatory stated: "You might make some parts of the

ocean greener by iron enrichment, but you're also going to make a lot of the

other parts of the ocean bluer."

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Adapted from: Playing god with the climate, Readers Digest, August 2013



QUESTION 1

What do the following words mean as they are used in the passage?

a) traction (line 10) ______________________________________

b) prosaic (line 18) ______________________________________

c) denuded (line 37) ______________________________________

d) suppressing (line 49) ______________________________________

e) countered (line 74) ______________________________________

f) soaked up (line 83) ______________________________________

(6 marks)

QUESTION 2

a) What is the stated main idea of paragraph VIII?

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

b) Select TWO major details to support the above main idea.

i)_____________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

ii)_____________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

(2 marks)



QUESTION 3

Indicate by circling the appropriate option. Paragraphs III, IV, and V discuss mostly on the

a) feasible ways to engineer our climate.

b) threats that are inevitably endangering our climate system and changing the

chemical composition.

c) efforts taken to shift the political landscape.

d) proposed schemes that would deliberately intervene in our climate system to reduce

heat absorption.

(1 mark)

QUESTION 4

Use the following words (Personal Observation, Example, Factual Data, Explanation, Expert

Opinion, Research) to label the types of supporting details used in the passage. Do not use

the given words more than once.

No Statements Types of

Supporting Details

a) However, if such a suggestion appears outrageous, it is rightly so

because issues are never so simple in the Earth system. Warming would

cause snow on the denuded lands to melt, and the situation would end

up worse than before the forests were cleared (Paragraph V).

__________

b) In 1993, Climatic Change published a novel scheme by P.C. Jain, an

Indian physicist, to counter global warming (Paragraph IX).

_________

c) Tiny marine plants known as phytoplankton grow by combining carbon

dioxide, various minerals and sunlight to multiply into blooms.

(Paragraph XI).

__________

d) As Robert Anderson, senior scholar at Lamont-Doherty Observatory

stated: "You might make some parts of the ocean greener by iron

enrichment, but you're also going to make a lot of the other parts of the

ocean bluer."

(Paragraph XII).

__________

(4 marks)



QUESTION 5

Of all the schemes put forward by the author, which one would you find the most

logical/acceptable? Explain why.

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(3 marks)

QUESTION 6

What is the implied main idea of paragraph VII?

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(2 marks)

QUESTION 7

List two types of support given by the writer in paragraph IX to strengthen the proposal that

the effects of global warming could be countered by increasing the radius of the Earths orbit

around the sun.

Provide one example for each type of support.

a) Type of support: _____________________________________________________

Example: _____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

b) Type of support: _____________________________________________________

Example: _____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

(4 marks)



QUESTION 8

What may cause the phytoplankton rich ocean to become bluer?

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(1 mark)

QUESTION 9

Evaluate the appropriateness of the title given to the article Playing God with the Climate.

Provide at least two reasons to support your answer.

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

(2 marks)

QUESTION 10

Study the statements below. Write I for inductive reasoning and D for deductive reasoning in

the boxes provided.

No Statements Types of

Reasoning

a) There are plenty of theories out there that highlight the need for

manipulating the Earth's climate. Some of these schemes are grand in

conception, while some are prosaic. Some are purely speculative, while

some are all too feasible. It would take decades before we could

discover whether attempting to engineer the climate is a glorious

enterprise or ruinous folly. Therefore, geo-engineering is risky but

necessary to overcome todays worsening climatic conditions.

__________



b)

The trees in the northern forests are darker and absorb more solar

radiation compared to the snow-covered forest floor. If they were felled,

the exposed ground would reflect a significantly greater proportion of

incoming solar radiation. The Earth would be cooler if all boreal forest

trees are cut down to reflect incoming solar radiation.

__________

c) When the ice in the Arctic sea melts, the Earth loses some of its

reflectivity. This layer of white ice is then replaced by dark seawater

which absorbs more heat. If a large area of the Earth's surface could be

whitened, this whitened surface may allow more of the sun's warmth to

be reflected back into space.

__________

d) While iron fertilisation stimulates biological productivity in one area,

nutrient stealing can see it fall in others. While circulating in the surface

waters, phytoplankton is eaten by other marine creatures. As a result, an

even growth of phytoplankton in all parts of the ocean may not be

possible.

__________

(4 marks)

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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ELC501_Test_1_Apr2014