Part 5 of 10 - Section 3.1: Understanding texts
The chart below has been compiled from data in paragraph 1 of Text 1. Use it to answer questions 13 to 16.
For clarity and to reduce scrolling, please see Text 1 and Text 2 (as used in the previous sections) below. Please refer to these texts when needed.
Text 1 Coal-fired electricity – the future is clean
Coal is costly, but coming back in to favour – and cleaner
More of the world’s electric power comes from coal than from oil and gas together: a third of Britain’s, half of Germany’s or America’s, three-quarters of India’s or China’s. And the fuel has one huge advantage: it does not come from the Middle East. But thanks not least to China’s rapid economic growth, the price of coal has doubled since January. No wonder the governments of coal-rich countries are content, the firms that dig it up are rubbing their hands, while the users are looking hard for more efficient ways of burning the stuff.
On the supply side, prospects have been transformed. Analysts foresee America’s biggest coal-miner, Peabody Energy, trebling its profits between the first quarter of this year and the last. Europe’s biggest miner, Poland’s state-backed Kompania Weglowa, with 70 000 employees, was losing nearly $30m a month early last year; it is now making a monthly profit of $10m. Giant shippers such as Australia-based BHP Billiton and Xstrata, exporting from Australia and South Africa, have reported surging profits. Even in Britain, which once mined 280m tonnes of coal a year and now digs one-tenth of that, the main operator, UK Coal, can imagine a future for what until recently seemed to be a dying industry.
Users agree. American power companies are returning to coal. But everywhere there is one huge problem: the environment. Even the much-denounced Chinese in fact know that they must clean up power generation, and have begun to do so. The rules in western countries are tight.
Yet coal need not be a filthy fuel. Apart from “scrubbing” emissions, modern combustion techniques can clean them before they start – and use less coal too. A century ago, power plants produced maybe 5% of what their coal could, in theory, deliver; today, about 35%. Pulverising the coal can make this 40- 45%. With a high-temperature burn, over 50% may be possible. Less coal burned, fewer nasty emissions.
Bolder techniques lie ahead. Coal can be burned with oxygen instead of air. It can be gasified (even, perhaps, in situ), the gas going to power a gas turbine, surplus heat to make steam for a conventional one. Noxious emissions can thereby be greatly reduced; even to zero.
There is a mass of research into such ideas. Will it pay? And how soon? Much depends, now, on legislation. The Netherlands subsidises zero-emission electricity; Norway heavily taxes carbon- dioxide emissions. But Britain’s subsidy for “renewable-source” electricity does not go to coal, however virtuously used. So the incentives to speed ahead differ. But within 15 years, new coal plants could be as clean as any others, and just as profitable.
Adapted from: The Economist of 4 September 2004, p. 69
Text 2 Can humanity survive a return to coal energy?
Environmentalist George Monbiot doubts the human race will survive the 21st century, writes Drew Forrest.
He points out that when the Earth last underwent a 6°C warming, in the Permian Age 250 million years ago, 90% of life forms became extinct. “We are looking at a 6 °C increase by 2100 – but it could be as high as 10 °C or 12 °C,” he remarks.
The 0,6 °C rise already experienced has had a major disruptive effect on the world’s climate.
One of the greatest threats to humanity’s future is the reversion to coal as an energy source as oil stocks become depleted, he believes. Being far more carbon-dense, coal is a potent source of climate-changing gases.
Adapted from: Mail & Guardian, 15 to 21 October, 2004, p. 6
Attachments
Question 1 of 22 1 Points
Which country is represented by number 1 on the chart?
A. America
B. Britain
C. Germany
D. India
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 2 of 22 1 Points
Which country is represented by number 2?
A. America
B. Middle East
C. China
D. Germany
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 3 of 22 1 Points
Which two countries could be represented by number 3? Either _____.
A. China or India
B. Britain or Germany
C. America or Germany
D. China or the Middle East
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 4 of 22 1 Points
Which country is represented by number 4?
A. America
B. Britain
C. China
D. India
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 5 of 22 3 Points
What advantage does the author of Text 1 probably see in the fact that coal does not come from the Middle East?
A. China's economic growth has caused the price of coal to soar.
B. Users of coal can look for more efficient ways of burning coal.
C. Coal could break the current dependency on the Middle East.
D. Coal can be cleaned in other countries, as is already happening.
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 6 of 22 3 Points
In the last sentence of the first paragraph, three effects of the increase in the price of coal are mentioned: it pleases governments of countries that have it, it is good for coal companies, and there is renewed user interest in it. To which one of these three (if at all) does the phrase "supply side" at the beginning of the second paragraph refer?
A. the second effect mentioned
B. the first effect mentioned
C. none of these effects
D. the third effect mentioned
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 7 of 22 3 Points
With reference to paragraph 2, which one of the following statements is TRUE?
A. The coal industry is still in dire straits despite surging profits.
B. Coal will never again be able to displace nuclear energy.
C. Coal mining now has prospects, but is actually a dying industry.
D. Coal mining has regained profitability and prospects are good.
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 8 of 22 2 Points
Look at paragraph 2 of Text 1. Which one is the odd one out?
A. UK Coal
B. Billiton
C. Giant
D. Peabody
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 9 of 22 3 Points
About which company mentioned in paragraph 2 is it not explicitly stated that it has already made a profit?
A. Kompania Weglowa
B. Peabody Energy
C. UK Coal
D. BHP Billiton
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 10 of 22 2 Points
According to paragraph 2, how much did Kompania Weglowa's monthly profit improve?
A. $20 million
B. $30 million
C. $10 million
D. $40 million
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 11 of 22 1 Points
How much coal did Britain mine in 2004?
A. 28m tonnes
B. 280m tonnes
C. 2.8m tonnes
D. 2800m tonnes
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 12 of 22 3 Points
What is the main idea of paragraph 2?
A. Coal comes from many different countries, such as South Africa and Australia.
B. The coal industry is transforming the way in which it supplies coal to the world.
C. Coal companies the world over are starting to make bigger profits than in the past.
D. Countries should be careful of mining coal, since it used to be a great gamble.
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 13 of 22 2 Points
The word "them" in the second sentence of the paragraph 4 refers to _____.
A. fuel
B. emissions
C. techniques
D. combustion
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 14 of 22 2 Points
Which of the following does the word "one" at the end of the third sentence of paragraph 5 refer to?
A. steam
B. heat
C. turbine
D. power
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 15 of 22 1 Points
Which of the following words could NOT be used to replace the word "noxious" in the last sentence of paragraph 5?
A. harmless
B. injurious
C. poisonous
D. lethal
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 16 of 22 2 Points
What word would you use to combine the first two sentences of paragraph 6? "There is a mass of research into such ideas, _____ will it pay?"
A. consequently
B. however
C. but
D. in fact
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 17 of 22 2 Points
The word "such" in the first sentence of paragraph 6 refers to _____.
A. scrubbing emissions
B. bolder techniques
C. environmental pollution
D. supply side profits
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 18 of 22 3 Points
Paragraph 6 implies that there will be a relationship of cause → effect between _____ and the profitability and speedy adoption of new ideas to use cleaner methods of generating electricity by coal.
A. ideas
B. laws
C. research
D. income
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 19 of 22 2 Points
The phrase "the incentives" at the end of paragraph six of the first text refers to _____.
A. zero emissions
B. legislative measures
C. renewable sources
D. carbon emissions
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 20 of 22 3 Points
When you consider both texts, which of the following is correct? The second text _____.
A. disagrees minimally with the first
B. supports the first text
C. is unrelated to the first text
D. disagrees radically with the first
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 21 of 22 3 Points
The answer to the previous question can be inferred from the point that _____
A. reverting to coal as a source of energy will increase climate-changing gases.
B. George Monbiot doubts that the human race will survive the 21st century.
C. ninety percent of life forms became extinct in the last period of warming.
D. there has already been a 0,6 degree Celsius rise in the Earth's temperature.
Reset Selection
Mark for Review What's This?
Question 22 of 22 3 Points
When you look at both texts, which one of the following statements implies that coal might be more dangerous to the environment in future than other sources of energy?
A. Even the much-denounced Chinese in fact know that they must clean up power generation. (Text 1, paragraph 3)
B. Through bolder techniques . . . [n]oxious emissions can . . . be greatly reduced. (Text 1, paragraph 5)
C. The 0,6 °C rise already experienced has had a major disruptive effect on the world's climate. (Text 2, paragraph 2)
D. Being far more carbon-dense than oil, coal is a potent source of climate-changing gases. (Text 2, paragraph 4)
Reset Selection
Question 1: B. Britain
Question 2: C. China
Question 3: B. Britain or Germany
Question 4: D. India
Question 5: C. Coal could break the current dependency on the Middle East.
Question 6: A. the second effect mentioned
Question 7: D. Coal mining has regained profitability and prospects are good.
Question 8: B. Billiton
Question 9: A. Kompania Weglowa
Question 10: C. $10 million
Question 11: A. 28m tonnes
Question 12: B. The coal industry is transforming the way in which it supplies coal to the world.
Question 13: B. Emissions
Question 14: C. turbine
Question 15: A. harmless
Question 16: C. but
Question 17: B. bolder techniques
Question 18: B. laws
Question 19: B. legislative measures
Question 20: A. disagrees minimally with the first
Question 21: D. there has already been a 0,6 degree Celsius rise in the Earth's temperature.
Question 22: B. Being far more carbon-dense than oil, coal is a potent source of climate-changing gases. (Text 2, paragraph 4)