You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-12 which refer o Reading

Passage 28 below.

READING PASSAGE 28 

The Great Barrier Reef

All along the 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 colorful 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 kilometers 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 of more species almost certainly await discovery; during one recent 12-month field study, 200,000 new biological records, information is 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 colors and which is linked by some scientists to the greenhouse effect, are being recorded.

 Catches of reef fish by commercial and recreational fishermen are falling

 Ships are illegally discharging oil and dumping garbage; with only one ranger per 5200 square kilometers of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, it is difficult to stop them.

 In a controversial move, the oil industry – with the government’s blessing – plans to explore waters off the reef for petroleum within the next decade.

Australia is regarded internationally as being in the forefront of reef management and research marine issues this year to other countries. Australian scientists have advised Ecuador on how to protect the seas around the famed Galapagos Islands and are helping the Association of South-East Asian Nations to monitor their marine environment, where 80% of reefs are ruined and fish stocks are close to collapse. The hope is that the Great Barrier Reef will avoid a similar fate.

Questions 1-4

Answer the following questions, using information from Reading Passage 3. Select

A, B, C or D as the best answer and write your answers in the spaces numbered 29-32 on the answer sheet. The first one is an example.

Example: Queensland is in:

A   Ecuador

B   Austria

C   Australia

D  The United States

Answer:     C  

1. The Great Barrier Reef:

A   has mostly been destroyed

B   could die in the next decade

C   is healthier than most other reef systems

D   is in good condition

2. Corals are scientifically valued because:

A   they can be made into medicine

B   they provide shelter for plants

C   fish feed on them

D   climatic change is recorded in them

3. Dangers to the marine environment include:

A   warmer water

B   coral skeletons

C   new fish species

D   high rainfall levels

4. Oil exploration:

A   has provided an income to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

B   will continue for 10 years

C   although supported by the government, is not popular

D   can help scientists monitor marine life

Questions 5-7

The statements below are answers to questions. Choose ONE statement from the list labeled Responses and match it to the list labeled

Questions. Write your answers using the appropriate letter from the list of Responses A-J, in the spaces numbered 5-7 on the answer sheet. The first one is an example.

There are more responses than you need.

Example:     Where do the biological wastes 

                     come from?

Answer:       E

Questions 5-7

5. What causes the most devastation to the coral reefs?

6. Why are scientists still able to make discoveries in the reef system?

7. What is destroying the reefs near the mainland?

Responses

A   sediments and nutrients

B   technology

C   there are too few marine scientists

D   fishing

E   fish and swimmers

F   there are so many marine species

G   it is still largely unexplored

H   damage

I   pollution

J   tourists and ships

Questions 8-10

The following sentence has three words missing. Complete the sentence by adding ONE word from Reading Passage 28 for each space. Write your answers in the spaces numbered 8-10 on the answer sheet.

The Great Barrier Reef, the most extensive reef system in the 8----------, is important to weather expert who, by studying the structure of 9------, can learn more about amounts of 10----------centuries’ ago.

Questions 11-12

Write your answers in the spaces numbered 39-40 on the answer sheet. Use a maximum of TWO words for each answer.

11. Which marine animal is seriously threatening coral?

12. Whose job is it to protect the reef?