TEXTOS DE SELECTIVIDAD DEL 24-28 OCTUBRE 2011

Do you think you can recycle? Then you must meet the villagers of Kamikatsu, in Japan!

Not long ago life in Kamikatsu centred on cultivating rice. Now the tiny village in the densely wooded mountains of Shikoku Island in south-west Japan has a new obsession: rubbish.

Kamikatsu’s aim is to end its dependence on incineration, and become Japan’s first zero-waste community. An hour’s drive from the nearest city, the village was forced to change the way it managed its waste in 2000 when new regulations on dioxin emissions forced it to shut down its two incinerators. “We were no longer able to burn our rubbish, so we thought the best policy was not to produce any” said Sonoe Fujii of the village’s Zero Waste Academy, a non-profit organisation that controls the scheme.

Household waste must be separated into no fewer than 34 categories before being taken to a recycling centre where volunteers reprimand firmly, but politely, anyone who forgets to remove the lid from a plastic bottle or to wash out an empty beer can. “At first it was very hard work” said a 65-year- old villager as she emptied another bowl of vegetable peelings into the electric garbage disposal unit next to her back door. “It took ages to sort everything into different types. But it comes naturally now.” Any waste that is not organic is taken to the village’s zero-waste centre. The site has a wide variety of items, from bottles, cans and newspapers to batteries, cigarette lighters, ballpoint pens and a surprisingly large number of broken mirrors.

Despite some opposition, Kamikatsu’s recycling rate has soared from 55% a decade ago to about 80% today.

5

QUESTIONS

1.- Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only TRUE or FALSE.

a) The people living in Kamikatsu had to stop burning their rubbish because of new laws. b) The attempts to recycle in the village have not been very successful.

(Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos) 2.- In your own words and based on the ideas in the text, answer the following questions.

Do not copy from the text.

a) What are the tasks involved in recycling the rubbish -organic and non-organic- in the village? b) What does one of the villagers think about the activity of recycling? (Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

3.- Find the words in the text that mean:

a) objective (paragraph 2) b) top (paragraph 3) c) a very long time (paragraph 3) d) classify (paragraph 3)

(Puntuación máxima: 1 punto)

4.- Complete the following sentences. Use the appropriate form of the word in brackets when given. a) People know that if they _____ (not recycle) their rubbish, in a few years they _____ (have to abandon) the village of Kamikatsu.

b) Villagers tie their newspapers into packets _____ (use) string made _____ recycled milk cartons. c) The problem of used cooking oil is solved. It _____ (make) into fertiliser, _____is used in gardens.

d) Rewrite the following sentence, beginning with the words given: When recycling glass bottles, you must classify them by colour. When recycling glass bottles, they ___________________ (Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

5.- Write about 100 to 150 words on ONE of the following topics.

a) Do you think it is important to recycle? Defend your point of view.

b) Write the story of a broken mirror you found in the rubbish. (Puntuación máxima: 3 puntos)

TEXT 2

Greening the Sahara

Surprisingly, the fertile fields of cauliflower and melons growing in a vast stretch of sand near Cairo’s pyramids are all too real. Tarek el-Kowmey points proudly to the banana trees he grows on what were once Sahara sands near the Development Centre where scientists experiment with high-tech techniques to make Egypt's desert green. "This used to be just sand," he said. "Now we can grow anything."

With only 5% of the country habitable, almost all of Egypt's 74 million people live along the Nile River and the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt's population is expected to double by 2050, and already crowded living conditions will likely get worse. So the government is keen to encourage people to settle in the desert by moving ahead with an expensive plan to reclaim 3.4 million acres of desert over the next 10 years. But to cultivate these areas, the government will need to irrigate the land with the scarce water resources of the Nile River because rainfall is almost non-existent. Government authorities believe that greening the Sahara might be Egypt’s best hope of bringing prosperity to its people.

However, the plan has raised controversy among environmentalists. They think that authorities should focus on eco-tourism rather than agriculture, which might not be particularly profitable and could destroy fragile wildlife habitats that might otherwise be an attraction for tourists. They affirm: “We have long considered the desert the enemy we have to fight. But the desert cannot be conquered and we should live in harmony with it. Let’s enjoy the desert as it is. There’s enormous economic value in the desert without

1.- Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only TRUE or FALSE.

a) The number of people living in Egypt will increase in the future. b) The text says that the government’s plan to reclaim the dessert for agriculture is economical.

(Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

2.- In your own words and based on the ideas in the text, answer the following questions. Do not copy from the text

a) Why is Tarek el-Kowmey mentioned in the text? b) Why do environmentalists believe desert tourism is better than agriculture for Egypt? Give two reasons. (Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

3.- Find the words or phrases in the text that mean:

a) b) c) d)

huge (paragraph 1) probably (paragraph 2) since (paragraph 2) instead of (paragraph 3)

(Puntuación máxima: 1 punto)

4.- Complete the following sentences. Use the appropriate form of the word in brackets when given. a) The Sahara, the “Great Desert”, is almost as large _____ the United States and extends _____ the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean.

b) My friends have suggested _____ (travel) to Egypt next year. The pyramids are considered to be the world’s _____ (ancient) monumental structures. The first one _____ (build) in 2612 B.C. c) Egypt’s economy depends mainly _____ agriculture, petroleum and tourism.

d) Eco-tourism, _____ has become very popular in recent years, reduces the negative effects of conventional tourism on the environment. Government officials have agreed _____ (promote) eco-tourism in Egypt. (Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

5.- Write about 100 to 150 words on the following topic. What can tourists do to protect the environment? Discuss.