Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 36 to 42.
Forget global terrorism - for most of the world's population, ticking time bombs like earthquakes, supervolcanoes and hurricanes pose a far greater threat. Natural disaster expert Bill McGuire reveals a few of the top catastrophes waiting to happen.
With NASA's eminent climate scientist, Jim Hansen, concerned that collapsing polar ice sheets could result in sea levels rising 1-2m this century and several more in the next, prospects for the Earth's coastal zones are bleak. A 1m rise would threaten one third of the world's agricultural land, while a 4m rise would maroon Miami 60km offshore. Rising sea levels is not the only threat to coastal regions. The Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Canary Island of La Palma is slowly creeping seawards. During a future eruption, this gigantic landslide will plunge into the ocean, pushing up a bulge of water close to a kilometre high, spawning a mega-tsunami capable of devastating all the coastal areas surrounding the North Atlantic.
Coastal regions also face the menace of desertification. By 2030, over half a billion people living around the shores of the Mediterranean will be viewing the encroaching desert with increasing panic. An area bigger than the UK, and home to 16 million people, is threatened - by the end of the century- with transformation from a green and pleasant land to a baking wilderness of sand and rock.
However, these disasters seem pale in comparison to the mega-catastrophes waiting to happen like supervolcanoes, for instance. Every 50 millennia or so, a colossal volcanic blast expels sufficient ash and gas to cover a continent and block the Sun's rays for years on end, heralding a bitter volcanic winter. At Yellowstone in Wyoming, US, two such super-eruptions have shattered the crust in the last 2.1 million years and the volcano there remains restless. An asteroid attack is another threat which would have devastating consequences. A total of 713 asteroids with diameters of 1km or more, and the potential to clobber the Earth at some future date, have been identified. A 2km asteroid would load the atmosphere with dust and trigger a sustained global freeze. Harvests would fail and billions would die. Fortunately, such collisions only happen every couple of million years.
(Adapted from Traveller by H.Q. Mitchell)
Question 36. Which best serves as the title for the passage?
A. Disasters in waiting. B. A one in a million chance.
C. The end is nigh. D. Suffering from supervolcanoes.
Question 37. According to Jim Hansen, what is an outcome of polar ice caps melting?
A. The majority of the world’s farming resources will be severely affected.
B. Many major coastal cities in the US will be wiped out.
C. Sea levels may hit their peak in this century.
D. The future for the Earth’s coastal zones seems dismal.
Question 38. The word ‘maroon’ in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _______.
A. soar B. escape C. engulf D. abandon
Question 39. The word ‘menace’ in paragraph 3 mostly means _______.
A. threat B. possibility C. alert D. sign
Question 40. The word ‘there’ in paragraph 4 refers to _______.
A. The Earth’s crust B. Yellowstone
C. The Mediterranean D. Miami
Question 41. Which of the following is true, according to the passage?
A. A volcano in the Canary Island of La Palma is poised to erupt at any moment in time.
B. Volcanic eruptions may have an adverse effect on seasonal temperature.
C. More than 713 asteroids have been examined closely which may strike the Earth some day.
D. The ferocity of all natural disasters which threaten humans’ survival are considered the same.
Question 42. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
A. Rising sea-levels are the main threat to humanity at this present moment in time.
B. Desertification is largely overlooked as a threat to mankind.
C. A volcanic blast would be significantly less damaging than other contemporary problems.
D. The chance of an asteroid hitting Earth any time soon is extremely unlikely.
