UPM/PPL/PJJ/BBI 2409/ SAMPLE /Page 12 of 12
BBI 2409 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
Semester 2, 2011/12
SAMPLE OF FINAL EXAM
______
The Final Exam is divided into 5 sections.
You will be tested on the following format:
40 Objective Questions
Section A – Comprehension Questions
Section B – Cloze Passage/ Sentence Completion/ Fill in the Blanks
Section C – Synonyms or word with the same meaning
Section D – Vocabulary- Finding the word which does not belong
Section E – Compound Word
Total – 40%
Duration : 1 1/2 hours.
(The date of exam will be fixed by PJJ Office)
Section A
Passage A - Item 1-10 (10 marks)
Passage B - Item 11-15 (5 marks)
SECTION A
[10 marks]
ITEMS 1-10
Read the following passage and choose the best option for each question.
Passage A
12
3
4
5
6
7
8 / Many people are concerned with the world’s continued dependence on petroleum and coal as energy sources. They are not “green” sources of energy because they do not burn cleanly and tend to muck up the environment with smoky residues. Also, they are not renewable, meaning that once they are used up, they are gone, and this will inevitably lead to scarcity. Another unfortunate side effect is the production of a great deal of carbon dioxide, a gas which contributes to global warming through the greenhouse effect. For these and other reasons, people are devoting themselves to finding renewable, sustainable, green sources of energy.
One such green source of energy is solar power from solar panels. Solar panels are devices that can absorb energy directly from the sun and convert it to electricity. Solar energy is useful in places without access to electric power lines; for example, in places far away from cities and towns or in space. There are, however, certain drawbacks. On Earth, the power is intermittent because the sun does not shine at night. Also, solar energy doesn’t measure up to other sources of energy in terms of power.
People in rural areas of China’s Xinjiang Province are finding solar energy to be an excellent alternative to coal. Many of the shepherds there move from place to place with their sheep, far from electric power lines. Several large companies are helping people to buy solar panels. They are small and light, so they are easy to travel with. They also provide enough energy to run a small heater, a radio, a TV, or a couple of light bulbs. China currently uses two billion tons of coal annually; this is equal to the coal use of India, Russia, and the United States combined. Green energy sources such as solar power are being welcomed as a way of cutting down on air pollution.
Gasoline is petroleum-based fuel that is hard to imagine giving up. It is literally the lifeblood of modern society. People do not want to give up driving automobiles, and this has been a major obstacle to ending the world’s gasoline addiction. Unfortunately, some analysts fear that world oil production will soon reach a peak and then go into a sharp decline. Butanol, ethanol, and biodiesel are fuels made from plants. They are renewable, green alternatives to gasoline. They can be made from a variety of plants, including corn, soybeans and others. Many people feel they can help ease the world’s gasoline addiction. Others are concerned that corn and soybeans that could be used to feed the world, will instead be dedicated to making automobile fuel.
Several automobile manufacturers are now mass-producing so-called “flex-fuel” cars that can burn a variety of fuels in addition to gasoline. Nearly 20 percent of all new cars sold in Brazil are of the flex-fuel type. Drivers claim that they are better off with a flex-fuel car, as they are able to save a significant amount of money at the gas pump. The car can run entirely on for example, ethanol, although it also keeps a small tank of gasoline in reserve to help start the car on cold days. Most filling stations in Brazil offer both gasoline and ethanol. In other countries, green fuel can still be hard to find, so flex-fuel cars are still just a blip on the radar.
At present, little more than one percent of the world’s power needs are met by wind power. Wind power is produced by wind farms: large areas on land or sea with evenly spaced turbines. Turbines are similar to windmills, usually with three arms that spin swiftly when the wind blows and thereby create energy. Wind energy is clean and renewable. It does have certain drawbacks, however. It is generally very expensive to set up a wind farm. Wind farms can involve cutting down lots of trees. Furthermore, wind turbines do not produce as much energy when compared to other types of power plants.
Wind power is currently the fastest-growing renewable energy technology in Scotland. Recently, the world’s largest wind turbine was installed off the Scottish coast. Each of its three rotating blades is 126 meters long. Scotland has some particularly windy areas, and some of its ocean-based turbines run as much as 96 percent of the time. Scotland’s Black Law Wind Farm was built on land ravaged by an open coal mine that was no longer used. The land was converted back to a wetland habitat for birds. This is possible because wind farms only utilize about one percent of the land for the bases of the turbines.
It seems clear that a new era for green energy has begun. The aforementioned examples in China, Brazil, and Scotland seem to have something in common. In each case, the particular character of the location dictates the success of its experiment with green energy. In China, it is the lifestyle of the nomads. In Brazil, it is that country’s abundance of ethanol. In Scotland, it is the naturally windy land and sea. Perhaps the era of the dominance of fossil fuels will slowly end this way, as each individual locale chooses the green energy source that is the most suitable.
Adapted from ACTIVE, skills for Reading: Book 4
1. The writer’s main purpose in writing the above article is
to ______.
A. convince the reader to stop using fossil fuels
B. introduce several green energy sources with examples of their use
C. inform the reader that new technologies are used in surprising places
D. show how fossil fuel users are slow to change to green energy sources
2. Which of the following statements is the positive point of
fossil fuels?
A. They are not renewable.
B. They pollute the environment.
C. They contribute to global warming.
D. They allow certain countries to control others.
3. Solar energy would be most useful in the following places
EXCEPT ______.
A. in an apartment in a big city
B. in a satellite orbiting the Earth
C. in the middle of the Sahara desert
D. on a ship in the middle of the ocean
4. What does the word ‘there’ in paragraph 3 refer to?
A. rural areas of Xinjiang Province.
B. Scotland’s Black law wind Farm.
C. urban areas of Xinjiang Province.
D. slump areas of China’s Xinjiang Province.
SECTION B
[10 marks]
ITEMS 16-25
Read the passages below and fill in the blanks by choosing the correct answer from options
A-D.
Although animal extinction is part of the natural cycle, humankind's presence on the earth has (16) ______the rate at which species are disappearing. The list of endangered species around the world (17)______growing due to a range of causes from (18) ______to a loss of habitat.
Efforts to (19)______pressured populations through captive breeding programmes are showing some signs of success, but man (20) ______to exert a pressure on the environment which continues to endanger many species across the globe. Just over 6% of the total species are in Brazil, reflecting the pressure that widespread deforestation is (21) ______in the highly bio-diverse region. The tiny island nation of Singapore has a large number of (22)______animals considering its size. Its 100 (23) ______species works out at over 20 per million people present on the island (compared with less than four per million in the United States).
Thanks to popular documentaries such as Planet Earth and End of the Line as we are starting to realise that we can make a real difference to conservation efforts by carefully (24) ______the food that we eat. In spite of this, humans need to reassess the way they (25) ______with the environment if we are to save many of the animals on this list from becoming extinct.
16. A. accelerate B. accelerates
C. accelerated D. accelerating
17. A. is B. was
C. are D. were
18. A. overhunt B. overhunted
C. overhunts D. overhunting
19. A. sustain B. sustains
C. sustained D. sustaining
SECTION C
[5 marks]
ITEMS 26-30
Choose the word from options A-D that has the same meaning as the underlined word.
26. The artist took a piece of wood and used several different knives to carve a sculpture of an ancestor.
A. chop
B. slice
C. shape
D. cut up
27. People take classes or watch cooking shows on TV to learn about new culinary ideas.
A. sewing
B. cooking
C. cleaning
D. household
SECTION D
[5 marks]
ITEMS 31-35
Choose the word which does not belong to the group.
31. A. lecturer B. instructor C. businessmen D. professor
32. A. kidnapper B. burglar C. banker D. robber
SECTION E
[5 marks]
ITEMS 36-40
Choose the most suitable compound word from the options given.
36. We ordered chicken and nuts with vegetables as a ______.
A. side track
B. side dish
C. side swipe
D. side board
37. The drug has no serious ______on the patient.
A. side on
B. side walk
C. side effect
D. side glance
THIS IS THE END OF THE QUESTION PAPER.