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The impact of urban environments on individual identity and the role of water resources in shaping human civilization. It discusses the barrage of images in cities that influence our self-perception, the shift from general to diverse representations, and the imperialism of taste in commodities. Additionally, it delves into the history and current challenges of water management, highlighting the need for smarter water use and infrastructure development.
Typology: Summaries
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Part I. Choose the best answer A, B, C or D to complete each of the following sentences.
of the urban landscape is take up by slogans, advertisements, flatly photographed images of folk heroes - the man who turned into a sophisticated dandy overnight by drinking a particular brand of drink, the girl who transformed herself into a femme fatale with a squirt of cheap scent. The tone of the wording of these advertisements is usually pert and facetious, comically drowning in its own hyperbole. But the pictures are brutally exact; they reproduce every detail of a style of life, down to the brand of cigarette - lighter; the stone in the ring and the economic row of books on the shelf. Yet, if one studies a line of ads across from where one is sitting on a tube train, there images radically conflict with each other. Swap the details about between the pictures, and they are instantly made illegible if the characters they represent really are heroes, then they clearly have no individual claim to speak for society as a whole. The clean-cut and the shaggy, rakes, innocents, brutes, home-lovers, adventurers, clowns all compete for our attention and invite emulations. As a gallery, they do provide a glossy mirror of the aspirations of a representative city crowd: but it is exceedingly hard to discern a single dominant style an image of how most people would like to see themselves. Even in the business of the mass - production of images of identity, this shift from the general to the diverse and particular is quite recent. Consider another line of stills: the back-lit, soft-focus portraits of the first and second generations of great movie stars. There is a degree of romantic unparticularity in the face of each one, as if they were communal dream-projections of society at large. Only in the specialized genres of westerns, farces and gangster movies were stars allowed to have odd, knobby cadaverous faces. The hero as loner belonged to history or the underworld: he spoke from the perimeter of society, reminding us of its dangerous edges. The stars of the last decade have looked quite different. Soft-focus photography has gone, to be replaced by a style which searches out warts and bumps, emphasizes the uniqueness not the generality of the face. Voices, too, are strenuously idiosyncratic; whines, stammers and low rumbles are exploited as features of star quality. Instead of romantic heroes and heroines, we have a brutalist, hard-edged style in which isolation and egotism are assumed as natural social conditions. In the movies, as in the city, the sense of stable hierarchy has become increasingly exhausted; we no longer live in a world where we can all share the same values, the same
2. What does the writer say about advertisements in the first paragraph? A. Certain kinds are considered more effective in cities than others. B. The way in which some of them are worded is cleverer than it might appear C. They often depict people that most other people would not care to be like D. The pictures in them accurately reflect the way that some people really live. 3. The writer says that if you look at a line of advertisements on a tube train, it is clear that. A. city dwellers have very diverse ideas about what image they would like to have. B. some images in advertisements have a general appeal that others lack. C. city dwellers are more influenced by images on advertisements than other people are. D. some images are intended to be representative of everyone’s aspirations. 4. What does the writer imply about portraits of old movie start? A. They tried to disguise the less attractive features of their subjects. B. Most people did not think they were accurate representations of the stars in them C. They made people feel that their own faces were rather unattractive D. They reflected an era in which people felt basically safe. 5. What does the word ‘cadaverous’ mean? A. extremely pale and thin B. energetic and enthusiastic C. dangerous D. skeptical 6. What does the writer suggest about the stars of the last decade? A. Some of them may be uncomfortable about the way they come across. B. They make an effort to speak in a way that may not be pleasant on the ear C. They make people wonder whether they should become more selfish. D. Most people accept that they are not typical of society as a whole 7. What does the word ‘hierarchy’ mean? A. methodology B. hypothesis C. ideology D. system 8. The writer uses the crowd on an underground platform to exemplify his belief that. A. no single attitude to life is more common than another in a city. B. no one in a city has strict attitudes towards the behavior of other. C. views of what society was like in the past are often inaccurate. D. people in cities would like to have more in common with each other
9. The writer implies that new arrivals in a city may A. change the image they wish to have too frequently. B. underestimate the importance of wealth. C. acquire a certain image without understanding what that involves. D. decide that status is of little importance 10. What point does the writer make about city dwellers in the final paragraph? A. They are unsure as to why certain things are popular with others. B. They are aware that judgments are made about them according to what they buy. C. They want to acquire more and more possessions. D. They are keen to be the first to appreciate new styles. Part 4. The reading passage below has eight paragraphs, A-H. Reading the passage and do the tasks below. (10 pts) A. The history of human civilization is entwined with the history of the ways we have learned to manipulate water resources. As towns gradually expanded, water was brought from increasingly remote sources, leading to sophisticated engineering efforts such as dams and aqueducts. At the height of the Roman Empire, nine major systems, with an innovative layout of pipes and well-built sewers, supplied the occupants of Rome with as much water per person as is provided in many parts or the industrial world today. B. During the industrial revolution and population explosion of the 19th^ and 20th centuries, the demand for water rose dramatically. Unprecedented construction of tens of thousands of monumental engineering projects designed to control floods, protect clean water supplies, and provide water for irrigation and hydropower brought great benefits to hundreds of millions of people. Food production has kept pace with soaring populations mainly because of the expansion of artificial irrigation systems that make possible the growth of 40% the world’s food. Nearly one fifth of all the electricity generated worldwide is produced by turbines spun by the power of falling water. C. Yet there is a dark side to this picture: despite our progress, half of the world’s population still suffers, with water services inferior to those available to the ancient Greeks and Romans. As the United Nations report on access to water reiterated in
which people withdraw water from aquifers, rivers and lakes has slowed. And in a few parts of the world, demand has actually fallen. G. What explains this remarkable turn of events? Two factors: People have figured out how to use water more efficiently, and communities are rethinking their priorities for water use. Throughout the first three-quarters of the 20th^ century, the quantity of freshwater consumed pen person doubled on average; in the USA, water withdrawals increased tenfold while the population quadrupled. But since 1980, the amount of water consumed per person has actually decreased, thanks to a range of new technologies that help to conserve water in homes and industry. In 1965, for instance, Japan used approximately 13 million gallons of water to produce $ million of commercial output; by 1989 this had dropped to 3.5 million gallons (even accounting for inflation) - almost a quadrupling of water productivity. In the USA water withdrawals have fallen by more than 20% from their peak in 1980. H. On the other hand, dams, aqueducts and other kinds of infrastructure will still have to be built, particularly in developing countries where not been met. But such projects must be built to higher specifications and with more accountability to local people and their environment than in the past. And even in regions where projects seem warranted, we must find ways to meet demands with fewer resources, respecting ecological criteria and to a smaller budget. For questions 1-7, choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-H from the list of headings below Write the correct number, i-ix. List of headings i. Scientists’ call for a revision of policy ii. An explanation for reduced water use iii. How a global challenge was met iv. Irrigation systems fall into disuse v. Environmental effects vi. The financial cost of recent technological improvements vii. The relevance to health viii. Addressing the concern over increasing populations
ix. A surprising downward trend in demand for water x. The need to raise standards xi. A description of ancient water supplies Example: Paragraph A: xi
SECTION IV: WRITING (50 points) Part 1. Finish each of the following sentences in such a way that it means exactly the same as the sentence printed. (10 points)**