Cambridge 11 Reading Test 1 - Answers With Explanation

1. "Hothouse production of tomatoes and other produce has been in vogue for some time" — an existing example of indoor farming.

2. Vertical farms, "situated in the heart of urban centres, would drastically reduce the amount of transportation required to bring food to consumers."

3. The system "would return energy to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants."

4. "It would also dramatically reduce fossil fuel use, by cutting out the need for tractors, ploughs and shipping."

5. "A major drawback of vertical farming, however, is that the plants would require artificial light."

6. "One variation on vertical farming that has been developed is to grow plants in stacked trays that move on rails."

7. "Most experts currently believe it is far more likely that we will simply use the space available on urban rooftops."

8. The passage gives "the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends" but never says whether the method of prediction has changed recently — NOT GIVEN.

9. "We despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts" — TRUE.

10. "Crops would be produced all year round, as they would be kept in artificially controlled, optimum growing conditions" — the opposite of being season-dependent — FALSE.

11. "Due to a rapidly changing climate... massive floods, long droughts, hurricanes and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops" — TRUE.

12. "All the food could be grown organically, eliminating the need for herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers" — contradicts needing fertilisers — FALSE.

13. "The system would greatly reduce the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface" — TRUE.

14. The canals had previously "been joined near the town of Falkirk by a sequence of 11 locks" until this link "had been dismantled in 1933" — they were connected before, just not by a wheel — FALSE.

15. The passage lists the design ideas submitted, from "rolling eggs to tilting tanks," but never mentions any opposition to the chosen design — NOT GIVEN.

16. "The various parts of The Falkirk Wheel were all constructed and assembled... at Butterley Engineering's Steelworks in Derbyshire" before later being dismantled and moved — TRUE.

17. "Over 45,000 bolt holes were matched with their bolts, and each bolt was hand-tightened," but the passage never claims this makes it unique in the world — NOT GIVEN.

18. "These gondolas always weigh the same, whether or not they are carrying boats" — contradicts the idea that weight varies with boat size — FALSE.

19. "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" — TRUE.

20. "Two hydraulic steel gates are raised, so as to seal the gondola off from the water in the canal basin."

21. "A hydraulic clamp, which prevents the arms of the Wheel moving while the gondola is docked, is removed, allowing the Wheel to turn."

22. "An array of ten hydraulic motors then begins to rotate the central axle."

23. "Two eight-metre-wide cogs orbit a fixed inner cog of the same width... so ensuring that the gondolas always remain level."

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

25. The remaining lift "is achieved by means of a pair of locks" because of "the historically important Antonine Wall, which was built by the Romans... Boats travel under this wall via a tunnel."

26. Boats travel "through the locks, and finally on to the Union Canal."

27. Paragraph D models the idea of releasing aerosol sprays "on historic volcanic explosions, such as that of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991" — a project based on an earlier natural event.

28. Paragraph B: "Geo-engineering has been shown to work, at least on a small localised scale. For decades, May Day parades in Moscow have taken place under clear blue skies" — a real success story.

29. Paragraph A defines geo-engineering as "a term which generally refers to the intentional large-scale manipulation of the environment."

30. Angel's spacecraft would "form a transparent, sunlight-refracting sunshade" in orbit above Earth.

31. Geo-engineering projects include "depositing iron in the ocean to stimulate the growth of algae."

32. Same line: the iron is deposited "to stimulate the growth of algae."

33. Aerosols released into the stratosphere would cause "sulphur dioxide would form clouds, which would, in turn, lead to a global dimming."

34. Scientists have "scrutinised whether it's possible to preserve the ice sheets of Greenland with reinforced high-tension cables, preventing icebergs from moving into the sea."

35. Birches "would shed their leaves in winter, thus enabling radiation to be reflected by the snow."

36. "Re-routing Russian rivers to increase cold water flow to ice-forming areas could also be used to slow down warming."

37. Rasch warns that if geo-engineering stopped, "the planet would return to its pre-engineered condition very rapidly, and probably within ten to twenty years" — its effects wouldn't last.

38. Sommerkorn says "we shouldn't exclude thinking thoroughly about this topic and its possibilities" — worth exploring.

39. Lunt says "Angel's project would have to operate at half strength" to avoid overshoot — its effectiveness may need to be limited.

40. Angel calls his own plan "no substitute for developing renewable energy: the only permanent solution" — geo-engineering can't replace research into non-fossil fuels.