READING
PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20
minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Urban farming
In Paris, urban farmers are
trying a soil-free approach to agriculture that uses less space and fewer
resources. Could it help cities face the threats to our food supplies?
On top of a striking new
exhibition hall in southern Paris, the world’s largest urban rooftop farm has
started to bear fruit. Strawberries that are small, intensely flavoured and
resplendently red sprout abundantly from large plastic tubes. Peer inside and
you see the tubes are completely hollow, the roots of dozens of strawberry
plants dangling down inside them. From identical vertical tubes nearby burst
row upon row of lettuces; near those are aromatic herbs, such as basil, sage
and peppermint. Opposite, in narrow, horizontal trays packed not with soil but
with coconut fibre, grow cherry tomatoes, shiny aubergines and brightly
coloured chards.
Pascal Hardy, an engineer and
sustainable development consultant, began experimenting with vertical farming
and aeroponic growing towers- as the soil-free plastic tubes are known – on his
Paris apartment block roof five years ago. The urban rooftop space above the
exhibition hall is somewhat bigger: 14,000 square metres and almost exactly the
size of a couple of football pitches. Already, the team of young urban farmers
who tend it have picked, in one day, 3,000 lettuces and 150 punnets of
strawberries. When the remaining two thirds of the vast open area are in
production, 20 staff will harvest up to 1,000 kg of perhaps 35 different
varieties of fruit and vegetables, every day. ‘We’re not ever, obviously, going
to feed the whole city this way,’ cautions Hardy. ‘In the urban environment
you’re working with very significant practical constraints, clearly, on what
you can do and where. But if enough unused space can be developed like this,
there’s no reason why you shouldn’t eventually target maybe between 5% and 10%
of consumption.’
Perhaps most significantly,
however, this is a real-life showcase for the work of Hardy’s flourishing urban
agriculture consultancy, Agripolis, which is currently fielding enquiries from
around the world to design, build and equip a new breed of soil-free inner-city
farm. ‘The method’s advantages are many,’ he says. ‘First, I don’t much like
the fact that most of the fruit and vegetables we eat have been treated with
something like 17 different pesticides, or that the intensive farming
techniques that produced them are such huge generators of greenhouse gases. I
don’t much like the fact, either, that they’ve travelled an average of 2,000
refrigerated kilometres to my plate, that their quality is so poor, because the
varieties are selected for their capacity to withstand such substantial
journeys, or that 80% of the price I pay goes to wholesalers and transport
companies, not the producers.’
Produce grown using this
soil-free method, on the other hand- which relies solely on a small quantity of
water, enriched with organic nutrients, pumped around a closed circuit of
pipes, towers and trays- is ‘produced up here, and sold locally, just down
there. It barely travels at all,’ Hardy says. ‘You can select crop varieties
for their flavour, not their resistance to the transport and storage chain, and
you can pick them when they’re really at their best, and not before.’ No soil
is exhausted, and the water that gently showers the plants’ roots every 12
minutes is recycled, so the method uses 90% less water than a classic intensive
farm for the same yield.
Urban farming is not, of
course, a new phenomenon. Inner-city agriculture is booming from Shanghai to
Detroit and Tokyo to Bangkok. Strawberries are being grown in disused shipping
containers, mushrooms in underground carparks. Aeroponic farming, he says, is
‘virtuous’. The equipment weighs little, can be installed on almost any flat
surface and is cheap to buy: roughly 100 to 150 per square metre. It is cheap
to run, too, consuming a tiny fraction of the electricity used by some
techniques.
Produce grown this way
typically sells at prices that, while generally higher than those of classic
intensive agriculture, are lower than soil-based organic growers. There are
limits to what farmers can grow this way, of course, and much of the produce is
suited to the summer months. ‘Root vegetables we cannot do, at least not yet,’
he says. ‘Radishes are OK, but carrots, potatoes, that kind of thing- the roots
are simply too long. Fruit trees are obviously not an option. And beans tend to
take up a lot of space for not much return.’ Nevertheless, urban farming of the
kind being practised in Paris is one part of a bigger and fast-changing picture
that is bringing food production closer to our lives.
Questions 1-3
Complete the sentences
below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO
WORDS ANDIOR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-3
on your answer sheet.
Urban farming in Paris
1 Vertical
tubes are used to grow strawberries, …………………… and herbs.
2 There will
eventually be a daily harvest of as much as …………………… in weight of fruit and
vegetables.
3 It may be possible
that the farm’s produce will account for as much as 10% of the city’s ……………………
overall.
Questions 4-7
Complete the table below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from
the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 4-7
on your answer sheet.
|
Intensive farming
versus aeroponic urban farming |
|||
|
|
Growth |
Selection |
Sale |
|
Intensive farming |
● wide range of 4…………… used ● techniques pollute air |
● quality not good ● varieties of fruit and vegetables chosen that can
survive long 5…………… |
● 6…………… receive very little of
overall income |
|
Aeroponic urban farming |
● no soil used ● nutrients added to water, which is recycled |
● produce chosen because of its 7…………… |
|
Questions 8-13
Do the following
statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 8-13 on your answer
sheet, write
TRUE
if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE
if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN
if there is no information on this
8 Urban farming
can take place above or below ground.
9 Some of the
equipment used in aeroponic farming can be made by hand.
10 Urban farming relies
more on electricity than some other types of farming.
11 Fruit and
vegetables grown on an aeroponic urban farm are cheaper than traditionally
grown organic produce.
12 Most produce can
be grown on an aeroponic urban farm at any time of the year.
13 Beans take longer
to grow on an urban farm than other vegetables.
ANSWER :
Question no.
1: Vertical tubes are used to grow
strawberries, and herbs.
Keywords for
the question: Vertical tubes, used, grow, strawberries, herbs,
For this
question, we have to look at the first paragraph. Here, in lines 3-6 the writer says, " Peer
inside and you see the tubes are completely hollow, the roots of dozens of
strawberry plants dangling down inside them. From identical vertical tubes
nearby burst row upon row of lettuces; near those are aromatic herbs, such as
basil, sage and peppermint.
Here, identical
vertical tubes = Vertical tubes,
aromatic
herbs, such as basil, sage and peppermint = herbs,
So, the answer is: lettuces
Question no.
2: There will eventually be a daily
harvest of as much as vegetables. in weight of fruit and
Keywords for
the question: will eventually be, daily harvest, as much as, in weight of,
fruit and vegetables,
Lines 6-8 of
paragraph no. 2 say, ". When
the remaining two-thirds of the vast open area are in production, 20 staff will
harvest up to 1,000 kg of perhaps 35 different varieties of fruit and
vegetables, every day.
Here, every
day = daily,
up to = as
much as,
So, the answer is: 1,000 kg
Question no.
3: It may be possible that the farm's
produce will account for as much as 10% of the city's overall.
Keywords for
the question: may be possible, farm's produce, will account for, as much
as, 10%, city's, overall,
In the final
few lines of paragraph no. 2, the writer says, " But if enough unused
space can be developed like this, there's no reason why you shouldn't
eventually target maybe between 5% and 10% of consumption."
Here, eventually
target maybe = It may be possible that the farm's produce will account for,
between 5%
and 10% = as much as 10%,
So, the answer is: (food) consumption
Questions 4-13: Completing table with ONE WORD
ONLY
[In this type of question candidates need to
fill in the gaps in a table. For this type of question, the scanning technique
will come in handy. It works just like completing sentences.]
Title of the table: Intensive farming versus
aeroponic urban farming
Question no.
4:
Intensive farming: Growth
· wide range of ………………………………………used
· techniques pollute air
Keywords for
the question: intensive farming, growth, wide range of, used, techniques,
pollute air,
In paragraph
no. 3, take a close look at lines
4-7, " ...... 'First, I don't much like the fact that most of the
fruit and vegetables we eat have been treated with something like 17 different
pesticides, or that the intensive farming techniques that produced them are
such huge generators of greenhouse gases........."
Here, 17
different = wide range of,
intensive
farming techniques = techniques,
such huge
generators of greenhouse gases = pollute air,
So, the answer is: pesticides
Question no.
5:
Intensive farming: Selection
· quality not good
· varieties of fruit and vegetables chosen that
can survive long………….
Keywords for
the question: intensive farming, selection, quality, not good, varieties of
fruits and vegetables, chosen, can survive long,
Again, in paragraph
no. 3, take a close look at lines
7-9, " ... I don't much like the fact, either, that they've travelled
an average of 2,000 refrigerated kilometres to my plate, that their quality is
so poor, because the varieties are selected for their capacity to withstand
such substantial journeys,......."
Here, quality
is so poor = quality not good,
varieties
are selected for their capacity to withstand such substantial journeys =
varieties of fruit and vegetables chosen that can survive long journeys,
So, the answer is: journeys
Question no.
6:
Intensive farming: Sale
· …………receive very little of overall income
Keywords for
the question: receive, very little, overall income,
In paragraph
no. 3, take a look at the final
lines, " that 80% of the price I pay goes to wholesalers and transport
companies, not the producers."
Here, 80%
of the price I pay goes to wholesalers and transport companies, not the
producers = producers receive very little of overall income,
So, the answer is: producers
Question no.
7:
Aeroponic farming: Selection
· produce chosen because of its……………………….
Keywords for
the question: Aeroponic farming, selection, produce chosen, because of,
its,
The first
4 lines of paragraph no. 4 give an answer to this question, as the author
of the text says here, "Produce grown using this soil-free method, on the
other hand - which relies solely on a small quantity of water, enriched with
organic nutrients, pumped around a closed circuit of pipes, towers, and trays -
is 'produced up here, and sold locally, just down there. It barely travels at
all,' Hardy says. 'You can select crop varieties for their flavour,
Here, Produce
grown using this soil-free method = Aeroponic farming,
You can
select crop varieties for their flavour = produce chosen because of its
flavour,
So, the answer is: flavour/ flavor
Questions 8-13: TRUE, FALSE, NOT GIVEN
[In this type of question, candidates are
asked to find out whether:
The statement in the question agrees with the
information in the passage - TRUE
The statement in the question contradicts the
information in the passage - FALSE
If there is no information on this - NOT GIVEN
For
this type of question, you can divide each statement into three independent
pieces and make your way through with the answer. This question type generally
follows a sequence. So, scanning skill is effective here.]
Question no.
8: Urban farming can take place above or
below ground.
Keywords for
the question: Urban farming, can take place, above or below ground,
In paragraph
no. 5, lines 1-3 say, "Urban
farming is not, of course, a new phenomenon. Inner-city agriculture is booming
from Shanghai to Detroit and Tokyo to Bangkok. Strawberries are being grown in
disused shipping containers, mushrooms in underground carparks.
Here, disused
shipping containers = above,
underground
carparks = below,
So, the information in the question matches
with the question.
So, the answer is: TRUE
Question no.
9: Some of the equipment used in
aeroponic farming can be made by hand.
Keywords for
the question: Some of the equipment, used in aeroponic farming, can be made
by hand,
Have a look at lines 3-5 of paragraph no. 5. The writer says here, Aeroponic
farming, he says, is 'virtuous'. The equipment weighs little, can be installed
on almost any flat surface and is cheap to buy: roughly 100 to 150 per square
metre..
Here, the
writer does not mention how the equipment can be made. The information is
missing.
So, the answer is: NOT GIVEN
Question no.
10: Urban farming relies more on
electricity than some other types of farming.
Keywords for
the question: Urban farming, relies more on electricity, than some other
types of farming,
Have a look at the final lines of paragraph no. 5. The writer says here,"
consuming a tiny fraction of the electricity used by some techniques." It
is cheap to run, too,
Here,
It = Urban farming,
consuming a
tiny fraction of the electricity = relies less on electricity,
The information in the passage contradicts the
question.
So, the answer is: FALSE
Question no.
11: Fruit and vegetables grown on an
aeroponic urban farm are cheaper than traditionally grown organic produce.
Keywords for
the question: Fruit and vegetables, grown on, aeroponic
urban farm, cheaper than, traditionally grown organic produce,
Have a look at the first few lines of paragraph no. 6. The writer says here,
"Produce grown this way typically sells at prices that, while generally
higher than those of classic intensive agriculture, are lower than soil- based
organic growers....
To find an answer to this question, first,
let's have a look at this clause 'while generally higher than those of classic
intensive agriculture,'.
When
you see a subordinate clause inside a sentence, just try to erase it from your
mind for a while. It is given as a 'distractor' to confuse you.
So, our main clause is 'Produce grown this way
typically sells at prices that are lower than soil-based organic growers.
Now, see if this sentence matches with the
question.
Here, Produce
grown this way = Fruit and vegetables grown on an aeroponic urban farm,
prices that
are lower than soil-based organic growers = cheaper than traditionally grown
organic produce,
So, the answer is: TRUE
Question no.
12: Most produce can be grown on an
aeroponic urban farm at any time of the year.
Keywords for
the question: Most produce, can be grown on, aeroponic urban farm, any time
of the year,
Lines 2-3 of
paragraph no. 6 say, " There
are limits to what farmers can grow this way, of course, and much of the
produce is suited to the summer months......"
Here, this
way = aeroponic urban farm,
much of the
produce is suited to the summer months = Most produce can be grown at summer
times only, NOT at any time of the year,
So, the answer is: FALSE
Question no.
13: Beans take longer to grow on an
urban farm than other vegetables.
Keywords for
the question: beans, take longer, to grow, on an urban farm,
than other vegetables,
In paragraph
no. 6, the writer mentions 'beans taking lots of space for low produce' in
lines 6-7. However, there is NO MENTION of
beans taking long time to grow compared to other vegetables.
So, the answer is: NOT GIVEN
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