SESSION 9 (19/09/2021)

READING (SCIENCE – COMPLETE FLOW CHART / TABLE)

I. Important keywords and sentences: (Please search for the meaning and
study by yourself. If you have any question, ask me by the next session)

A New Ice Age

William Curry is a serious, sober climate scientist, not an art critic. But he has spent a
lot of time perusing Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s famous painting “George Washington
Crossing the Delaware”, which depicts a boatload of colonial American soldiers
making their way to attack English and Hessian troops the day after Christmas in
1776. “Most people think these other guys in the boat are rowing, but they are
actually pushing the ice away,” says Curry, tapping his finger on a reproduction of the
painting. Sure enough, the lead oarsman is bashing the frozen river with his boot. “I
grew up in Philadelphia. The place in this painting is 30 minutes away by car. I can
tell you, this kind of thing just doesn’t happen anymore.”

But it may again soon. And ice-choked scenes, similar to those immortalized by the
16th-century Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder, may also return to Europe.
His works, including the 1565 masterpiece “Hunters in the Snow”, make the now-
temperate European landscapes look more like Lapland. Such frigid settings were
commonplace during a period dating roughly from 1300 to 1850 because much of
North America and Europe was in the throes of a little ice age. And now there is
mounting evidence that the chill could return. A growing number of scientists believe
conditions are ripe for another prolonged cool down, or small ice age. While no one
is predicting a brutal ice sheet like the one that covered the Northern Hemisphere with
glaciers about 12,000 years ago, the next cooling trend could drop average
temperatures 5 degrees Fahrenheit over much of the United States and 10 degrees in
the Northeast, northern Europe, and northern Asia.

“It could happen in 10 years,” says Terrence Joyce, who chairs the Woods Hole
Physical Oceanography Department. “Once it does, it can take hundreds of years to
reverse.” And he is alarmed that Americans have yet to take the threat seriously.

A drop of 5 to 10 degrees’ entails much more than simply bumping up the thermostat
and carrying on. Both economically and ecologically, such quick, persistent chilling
could have devastating consequences. A 2002 report titled “Abrupt Climate Change:
Inevitable Surprises”, produced by the National Academy of Sciences, pegged the
cost from agricultural losses alone at $100 billion to $250 billion while also predicting
that damage to ecologies could be vast and incalculable. A grim sampler:
disappearing forests, increased housing expenses, dwindling fresh water, lower crop
yields, and accelerated species extinctions.
The reason for such huge effects is simple. A quick climate change wreaks far more
disruption than a slow one. People, animals, plants, and the economies that depend on
them are like rivers; says the report: "For example, high water in a river will pose few
problems until the water runs over the bank, after which levees can be breached and
massive flooding can occur. Many biological processes undergo shifts at particular
thresholds of temperature and precipitation.”

Political changes since the last ice age could make survival far more difficult for the
world's poor. During previous cooling periods, whole tribes simply picked up and
moved south, but that option doesn't work in the modern, tense world of closed
borders. "To the extent that abrupt climate change may cause rapid and extensive
changes of fortune for those who live off the land, the inability to migrate may
remove one of the major safety nets for distressed people,” says the report.

But first things first. Isn't the earth actually warming? Indeed, it is, says Joyce. ‘In his
cluttered office, full of soft light from the foggy Cape Cod morning, he explains how
such warming could actually be the surprising culprit of the next mini-ice age. The
paradox is a result of the appearance over the past 30 years in the North Atlantic of
huge rivers of fresh water - the equivalent of a 10-foot-thick layer - mixed into the
salty sea. No one is certain where the fresh torrents are coming from, but a prime
suspect is melting Arctic ice, caused by a build-up of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere that traps solar energy.

The freshwater trend is major news in ocean-science circles. Bob Dickson, a British
oceanographer who sounded an alarm at a February conference in Honolulu, has
termed the drop in salinity and temperature in the Labrador Sea - a body of water
between northeastern Canada and Greenland that adjoins the Atlantic - "arguably the
largest full-depth changes observed in the modern instrumental oceanographic
record”.

The trend could cause a little ice age by subverting the northern penetration of Gulf
Stream waters. Normally, the Gulf Stream, laden with heat soaked up in the tropics,
meanders up the east coasts of the United States and Canada. As it flows northward,
the stream surrenders heat to the air. Because the prevailing North Atlantic winds
blow eastward, a lot of the heat wafts to Europe. That’s why many scientists believe
winter temperatures on the Continent are as much as 36 degrees Fahrenheit warmer
than those in North America at the same latitude. Frigid Boston, for example, lies at
almost precisely the same latitude as balmy Rome. And some scientists say the heat
also warms Americans and Canadians. “It’s a real mistake to think of this solely as a
European phenomenon," says Joyce.

Having given up its heat to the air, the now-cooler water becomes denser and sinks
into the North Atlantic by a mile or more in a process oceanographers call
“thermohaline circulation”. This massive column of cascading cold is the main
engine powering a deep-water current called the Great Ocean Conveyor that snakes
through all the world’s oceans. But as the North Atlantic fills with fresh water, it
grows less dense, making the waters carried northward by the Gulf Stream less able to
sink. The new mass of relatively fresh water sits on top of the ocean like a big
thermal blanket, threatening the thermohaline circulation. That, in turn, could make
the Gulf Stream slow or veer southward. At some point, the whole system could
simply shut down, and do so quickly. “There is increasing evidence that we are
getting closer to a transition point, from which we can jump to a new state.” 

PART 1: VOCABULARY

 Depict (v) = show, illustrate, portray, indicate, describe, etc. /

Depiction = portrayal (n)
 His painting depicts an old house in the valley, which has a variety of flowers.
 The depiction of the house is very clear.

 oarsman (n) = rower

 frigid (ad) = freezing: very cold / fridge (n)

 The weather here is extremely/hugely/especially frigid.

 Lengthen (v)
 prolonged (ad)/ prolong (v): lengthen the period of time
 In the past, they tried to prolong their age by eating fetus.

 dwindling (ad) = decreasing, reducing, etc. / dwindle (v) = decrease, reduce,

diminish, etc.
 The number of people who are using public transportation is dwindling.
 The government tries to dwindle the amount of people using cigarette.

 Cluttered (ad): messy / Clutter (n/v): mess

 To be + full of + N
 His cluttered room is full of dirty clothes and papers.

 paradox (n): a situation where something is not supposed to happen logically

but it happens (nghịch lý)


 latitude (n): large amount of space (phạm vi rộng)

 The latitude of this country is extremely large.

 Terminology (short for “term”)

 “thermohaline circulation” (terminology): luân chuyển nhiệt muối
 thermal (adj): related to heat and temperature


 cascading (adj) / cascade (v): to fall quickly and in large amount

 The waterfall is cascading to the stream ( water/waterfall)
 The snow on top of Fuji Mountain is cascading dangerously ( snow)

 salinity (n) / saline water (n)

PART 2: COMPLETE FLOW CHART / TABLE

Questions 14-17

Write your answers in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.

14. The writer uses paintings in the first paragraph to illustrate

    A. possible future climate change.

    B. climate change of the last two centuries.
    C. the river doesn’t freeze in winter anymore.
    D. how George Washington led his troops across the river.

15. Which of the following do scientists believe to be possible?

    A. The temperature may drop over much of the Northern Hemisphere.
    B. It will be colder than 12,000 years ago.
    C. The entire Northern Hemisphere will be covered in ice.
    D. Europe will look more like Lapland.

16. Why is it difficult for the poor to survive the next ice age?

    A. People don’t live in tribes anymore.

    B. Politics are changing too fast today.
    C. Abrupt climate change causes people to live off their land.
    D. Migration has become impossible because of closed borders.

17.  Why is continental Europe much warmer than North America in winter?

    A. Wind blows most of the heat of tropical currents to Europe.

    B. Europe and North America are at different latitudes.
    C. The Gulf Stream has stopped yielding heat to the air.
    D. The Gulf Stream moves north along the east coast of North America

Questions 23-26

Complete the flow chart below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.

23: heat
24: denser
25: Great Ocean Conveyor
26: fresh water
 COMPLETE FLOW CHART / TABLE

 In IELTS, these questions can appear as gaps in a flow chart or a table and
you need to choose the answer from the passage. Pay careful attention to the
word limit (e.g. NO MORE THAN 2 WORD AND/OR A NUMBER).
 Flow chart often relates to Science topic, while Table relates more to
Humanities topic
 Strategies:
1. It usually just focuses on 1 section of a passage (not the entire passage)
 SCAN for keywords in the flow chart/table to locate the section you
need to focus on.
2. Once located the section, start reading and understanding this section
carefully (word by word, detail by detail). Be extra careful with
paraphrase and synonym!
 SCANNING skill for key words is important here
3. Use the text style and formatting at the gap to scan for your answer faster
Examples: uppercase letter, numbers, names, quotation marks, etc.
4. Do not use your own knowledge or opinion. Based your answer entirely on
the information given in the text.

II. Next Session’s Preparation (Topic: Writing: Cause-Effect Essay 1 /

Speaking: Hobbies)

1. Review all vocabulary carefully, make sentences with important vocabulary

2. Finish paraphrasing these sentences

- An ice-choked scenes, similar to those immortalisedimmortalized by the

16th-century Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder, may also return
to Europe.
 A breathtaking sight, similar to those immortalized by a Flemish artist in 16th-
century, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, may potentially reappear to Europe.
- A growing number of scientists believe conditions are ripe for another
prolonged cooldowncool down, or small ice age.
 An increasing number of experts believe that the circumstances are ideal for
another lengthy cooling period, dubbed the little ice age.
- Both economically and ecologically, such quick, persistent chilling could
have devastating consequences.
 Such a sudden and sustained freeze may have severe economic and ecological
implications.
 - A 2002 report titled “Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises”,
produced by the National Academy of Sciences, pegged the cost from
agricultural losses alone at $100 billion to $250 billion while also
predicting that damage to ecologies could be vast and incalculable.
 The National Academy of Sciences estimated the cost of agricultural losses at
$100 billion to $250 billion in a 2002 report titled "Sudden Climate Change:
The Unavoidable Surprises," and the harm to the environment is expected to
be huge and unexpected.
- The reason for such huge effects is simple. A quick climate change wreaks
far more disruption than a slow one.
 The explanation for such massive impacts is straightforward. A rapid climate
change causes considerably more disturbance than a gradual one.
- To the extent that abrupt climate change may cause rapid and extensive
changes of fortune for those who live off the land, the inability to migrate
may remove one of the major safety nets for distressed people
 To the degree that abrupt climate change may create quick and widespread
changes in fortune for individuals who live off the land, the inability to
migrate may eliminate one of the primary safety nets for troubled people.
- At some point, the whole system could simply shut down, and do so
quickly.
 At some time, the entire system might simply and abruptly shut down.
3. Finish the passages “New Zealand Seaweed” and “Travel Books”. I will send
them in a separate file. Please inform me when you finished and I’ll send you the
Answer Key.

4. Next Session’s Preparation

 Read p. 37-39
 Write an essay (250 words) with the topic bellow (submission is required)
The percentage of overweight children in western society has increased by
almost 20% in the last ten years.
Discuss the causes and effects of this disturbing trend.
In a decade, the proportion of children with obesity in western society has developed
by nearly 20%. The driving force of this remarkable situation is an unhealthy eating
habit and the lack of movement. Moreover, the effects of this trend are extremely
dangerous in the long term. This essay will discuss about the explanation and effect of
this alarming problem.
In recent times, children spend more time on passive activities than ten years ago. If
in the past children used to spend a lot of time outside, running and climbing the trees,
today they are spending hours playing video games, sitting on the couch. In instant,
we easily catch the sense that children take all their attention on the technology gadget
almost all the time instead of taking part in some sports activities as in the past. On
the other hand, poor eating habits are also the explanation for this problem. With the
strong development of the fast-food industry, ready-served restaurants grow fast like
mushrooms. Be attracted by the convenience and flavour of this kind of food, many
parents allow kids to eat as much as they want and may use junk food as a main meal.
Fast food contains a large amount of sugar and oil which could damage their health
and cause obesity faster.

Obesity has seriously harmful effects on individuals, especially kids. Besides, the
unbalance appearance, which is only the tip of the iceberg, there are severe health
risks such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hormone imbalances, bone fractures,
and so on. Furthermore, the psychological consequences, such as unconfident, as well
as depression, are severe. Children who are overweight are more likely to be bullied
because of their looks. They are frequently traumatized and suffer from a lack of
confidence as a result of their inability to protect themselves, and as a result, they are
lonely and dissatisfied. As a consequence, being overweight has significant physical
and emotional consequences for children that have to face a long period.
(Submit the Word file or copy/paste the paragraph to the chat on Skype before next
session)