End
of Sentence
A . .. are divided by gender.
B . .. were considered.
C . .. are often difficult to change.
D . .. are often in agreement around the home.
E . .. and tasks are typically along traditional lines.
F
G.
.. make the key difference.
. are divided in their view of what is responsible for the different patterns
of domestic division of labour.
Questions 23-28
Paragraphs 2-7 in Reading Passage 2 each contain one word highlighted in bold
type. Each highlighted word can be paired with a word of approximately opposite
meaning which is in the list A-N below. From the list of highlighted words,
choose
the most suitable opposite meaning. Use each word ONCE only. Write your
answers in spaces numbered 23-28 on the answer sheet. The first one is an
example.
Example:
Answer:
fostering (Paragraph 1)
K
Highlighted words
23. bulk
24. breadwinning
25. prescription
26. adopt
27. categorised
28. stereotyped
Opposite meanings
A differentiated
F choice
K discouraging
B
average
G loss
L named
C unclassified
H assume
M outgoings
D owned
I repudiate
N encourage
E minimum
J pattern
QUESTIONS 29-40
You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on
Questions 29-40 which refer to Rending
Passage 3 below.
READING PASSAGE 3
The Great Barrier Reef
All along (he Queensland coast, inshore coral
reefs, smothered by silt and algae, are dying.
Some lagoons and reefs, once pristine examples
of a
tropical paradise, now consist of broken
skeletons of dead coral, buried in layers of silt.
Even the most remote reefs are at risk of pollution
from tourist resorts releasing sewage and ships
dumping their rubbish. Tourists too are
so
numerous that at one popular reef, urine from
swimmers, and droppings from fish they feed,
have increased the nutrient level in the water so
much that algal blooms flourish and threaten the
very existence of the colourful corals.
Marine experts say about 70% of coral reefs
around the world are dead or severely degraded.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the globe's largest
reef system, stretching 2300 kilometres and
comprising 2900
separate reefs, is in better shape
than most. But experts warn that it requires
concerted effort and diligence to keep it that way
and in some places it is already too late.
The Great Barrier Reef is internationally
renowned for its spectacular marine life and the
tourist and fishing industries are economically
important. Reef-based tourism and fishing have
a combined economic worth of more than $1
billion a year. Reef tourism is now more valuable
than sugar exports and tourist numbers are
forecast to quadruple within eight years. The
industry depends on protecting a spectacular
marine environment that is home to at least
10,000 species of animals (including 400 varieties
of coral) and plants. They include such
endangered creatures as the dugong,
the giant
clam and the humpback whale.
It is an environment so little known that
thousands more species almost certainly await
discovery; during one recent 12 month field
study, 200,000 new biological records,
.information not previously known to science,
were made. Many promising compounds for new
medical treatments and other products are being
discovered on the reef. Compounds derived from
sponges and other reef organisms are being
evaluated in the United States for possible use
in drugs to fight cancer and AIDS. Through
newly developing technology, corals are giving
us an extraordinary insight into past weather
patterns.
Scientists have discovered that long-lived
on the Great Barrier Reef are vast storehouses
weather information. Over the centuries, corals
have absorbed humic acid
from plant material
washed into the reef from mainland rivers. By
examining bands in coral skeletons (analogous
to tree rings) under ultraviolet light, scientists
have been able to trace rainfall levels back to
1640s; eventually, they will know what the
rainfall was at least 1000 years ago.
Sadly, after several years of research, marine
experts agree that inshore reefs are being
devastated by a vast deluge of sediment and
nutrients washed into the sea as a result of
development on the mainland. Some claim that
outer reefs will eventually meet the same fate.
As internationally renowned marine scientist
Leon Zann sums it up: 'It's not the waste on the
beaches we have to worry about, it's what we
can't see below the surface'.
The reef is being assaulted on other fronts:
• Research suggests
that a new invasion of
crown-of-thorns starfish, a coral devouring
creature, may be imminent. Authorities believe
that human activities are implicated in such
population explosions.
• Fresh outbreaks of coral bleaching — which
occurs when rising temperatures cause polyps
to discard the tiny algae that give reefs their
colours and which is linked by some scientists
to the greenhouse effect, are being recorded.
• Catches of reef fish by commercial and
Australia is regarded internationally as being in
recreational fishermen are falling
the forefront of reef management and research
• Ships are illegally discharging oil and
and is providing $2 million worth of advice on
dumping garbage; with only one ranger per 5200
marine issues this year to other countries.
square kilometres
of the Great Barrier Reef
Australian scientists have advised Ecuador on
Marine Park, it is difficult to stop them.
how to protect the seas around the famed
• In a controversial move, the oil industry —
Galapagos Islands and are helping the
with the government's blessing — plans to explore
Association of South-East Asian Nations to
waters off the reef for petroleum within the next
monitor their marine environment, where 80%
decade.
of reefs are ruined and fish stocks are close to
collapse. The hope is that the Great Barrier Reef
will avoid a similar fate.
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