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    Science and Technology Work With Nature To Bring Rain When and Where It Is Needed

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    Nguyễn Phạm Thảo Nguyên
    Experiments with cloud seeding have been carried out in over 40 countries to modify weather patterns and create rain. In China, the government employs 39,000 staff and uses army rockets to fire silver iodide particles into clouds in an effort to generate rainfall. While experts question whether cloud seeding is truly effective, a research project in Australia has found promising results indicating it can influence weather, though more studies are still needed. Some concerns exist that altering rainfall patterns could negatively impact some regions if it causes water to be diverted from one area to another.

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    Science and Technology Work With Nature To Bring Rain When and Where It Is Needed

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    Nguyễn Phạm Thảo Nguyên
    355 views3 pages
    Experiments with cloud seeding have been carried out in over 40 countries to modify weather patterns and create rain. In China, the government employs 39,000 staff and uses army rockets to fire silver iodide particles into clouds in an effort to generate rainfall. While experts question whether cloud seeding is truly effective, a research project in Australia has found promising results indicating it can influence weather, though more studies are still needed. Some concerns exist that altering rainfall patterns could negatively impact some regions if it causes water to be diverted from one area to another.

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    READING

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    Experiments with cloud seeding have been carried out in over 40 countries to modify weather patterns and create rain. In China, the government employs 39,000 staff and uses army rockets to fire silver iodide particles into clouds in an effort to generate rainfall. While experts question whether cloud seeding is truly effective, a research project in Australia has found promising results indicating it can influence weather, though more studies are still needed. Some concerns exist that altering rainfall patterns could negatively impact some regions if it causes water to be diverted from one area to another.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    355 views3 pages

    Science and Technology Work With Nature To Bring Rain When and Where It Is Needed

    Uploaded by

    Nguyễn Phạm Thảo Nguyên
    Experiments with cloud seeding have been carried out in over 40 countries to modify weather patterns and create rain. In China, the government employs 39,000 staff and uses army rockets to fire silver iodide particles into clouds in an effort to generate rainfall. While experts question whether cloud seeding is truly effective, a research project in Australia has found promising results indicating it can influence weather, though more studies are still needed. Some concerns exist that altering rainfall patterns could negatively impact some regions if it causes water to be diverted from one area to another.

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    of 3

    IELTS FIRST STEPS

    Reading Practice
    THE RAIN MAKERS

    Science and technology work with nature to bring rain when and where it is needed
    A. Wheat farmer Gang Liu is a worried man. The annual rain have not arrived, and there is a danger that
    unless there is substantial rainfall soon, his annual wheat crop will fail. As he looks anxiously at the clouds
    which promise rain but are failing to deliver it, there is a sudden loud roar, and from fields for miles
    around, hundreds of small rockets are fired into the clouds. Within twenty minutes, the farms around the
    eastern Chinese city of Luohe are experiencing their first rain for many weeks. Gang Liu’s valuable wheat
    has been saved, thanks to a technique known as ‘cloud seeding’, in which the chemical silver iodide (Agl)
    is introduced into clouds. This cause the tiny drops of moisture in the clouds to turn to ice. These tiny ice
    particles join until they become heavy enough to fall from the sky, turning into rain as they melt.
    B. But did cloud seeding really cause the rain in Louhe to fall, or was it just a coincidence? Experts often
    question whether cloud seeding actually works. It is hard to tell how effective cloud seeding actually is,
    they say, as it might have rained anyway, without human intervention. But this has not stopped many
    governments and organizations from trying. There are currently 150 weather modifying projects taking
    place in more than 40 countries. Not all of them are aimed at creating rain. The Eastlund Scientific
    Enterprises Corporation in the USA, for example, is experimenting with firing microwaves into clouds to
    prevent the tornadoes which cause enormous damage to the country every year. In Russia, experiments
    have been carried out to make sure the sun shines during important national events.
    C. However, it is rainmaking that dominates the research programs. In many of these, researchers are using
    trials in which some clouds are ‘seeded’ while others are not, and both groups are monitored. Arlen
    Huggins of the Desert Research Institute is leading a research project in Australia. Weather-monitoring
    technology is so good nowadays, he says, that we can measure clouds much more effectively, even from
    the inside. As a result, we now know much more about the effect humans can have on the weather. What
    Huggins’ team has discovered so far is promising. They believe that cloud seeding does work, although
    there are still two years of the six-year project left to go.
    D. In China, where the majority of cloud-seeding operations take place, weather-modification authorities use
    army rockets to fire silver-iodide particles into the clouds. 39,000 staff working for the China
    Meteorological Administration (CMA) are equipped with 7,113 army cannons which, in 2006, were used
    to fire a million silver-iodide rockets into the atmosphere. This costs over $100 million a year, although
    the CMA claims the results are worth the expense. Between 1999 and 2006, they say, cloud seeding
    produced 250 billion metric tonnes of rain and prevented thousands of farmers from losing their crops.
    E. “We want to understand what makes clouds rain,” says Philip Brown of the UK Meteorological office,
    explaining why so much time, effort and money are being invested. “But there is a more powerful
    economic reason. A lot of countries around the world are at risk from drought, and governments will try
    anything to make sure that doesn’t happen, even if the scientific evidence is weak. The potential
    economic value is greater than the scientific value. Making it rain might allow you to keep agriculture
    growing where, without human intervention, it might fail.
    F. Some people are concerned, however, that altering the weather can have negative consequences.
    Leonard Barrie, director of the research department at the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva,
    explains why. “All areas of weather modification are still very controversial. Some people think that
    diverting water for irrigation benefits some people, but is a disadvantage to others. Someone in one area
    will get more water, but as a result, someone somewhere else could get less. “His fears may be justified.
    Recently, the town of Zhoukou in China’s Henan province accused neighboring town Pingdingshang of
    ‘stealing’ rain from clouds that were due to pass over its own farms, prompting what may be the world’s
    very first documented incident of ‘rain-rage’.
    Questions 1–6: The reading passage has six paragraphs, A-F
    Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below
    List of headings
    i. Making peaceful use of a military weapon
    ii. How modifying the weather has changed the world
    iii. What is prompting this research
    iv. A period of drought comes to an end
    v. An old solution to a new problem
    vi. Winners and losers
    vii. Tests provide encouraging results
    viii. A waste of money
    ix. Global attempts to change the weather
    1. Paragraph A
    2. Paragraph B
    3. Paragraph C
    4. Paragraph D
    5. Paragraph E
    6. Paragraph F
    Questions 7–12: Complete the sentences below
    Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer
    7. Experts are unsure if cloud seeding is _________ or not
    8. At the moment, there are over ________ where projects are being carried out to modify the weather
    9. Thanks to modern ________, it is now possible to get better results when clouds are monitored
    10. The Desert Research Institute project will finish in a couple of ____________
    11. The CMA gets the equipment they need from the ___________
    12. A large number of _________ benefited from cloud seeding carried out by the CMA
    Questions 13–14: Choose TWO letter, A – E
    Which TWO of these sentences are true about cloud seeding, according to the passage?
    A. China carries out more cloud seeding than anywhere else.
    B. Cloud seeding is too expensive for most countries
    C. Cloud seeding is mostly done for scientific rather than economic reasons
    D. Cloud seeding helps turn dry areas of land into agricultural areas.
    E. Cloud seeding may affect the distribution of rainfall.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
     List of synonym / antonym
    Keywords in question Similar/opposite words in the passage
    projects are being carried out
    it is now possible to get better results
    finish in a couple of …
    gets the equipment
    benefited from ><
     Vocabulary and structures should be learned :
    - moisture (n) : hơi ẩm
    - coincidence (n): sự trùng hợp
    - intervention (n): sự can thiệp
    - take place / happen / occur (v): diễn ra
    * experience (st): trải qua điều gì
    Ex: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
    * cause (st)/(sb) to (V)…: khiến (cái gì)/(ai) làm gì
    Ex: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
    * stop (sb) from (V-ing) … / prevent (sb) from (V-ing) …: ngăn (ai) (làm gì)
    Ex: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
    * The effect (st)/(sb) have on (sb)/(st) : Ảnh hưởng mà (cái gì)/(ai) có lên (ai)/cái gì)
    Ex: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
    * (be) worth (st): xứng đáng / cũng đáng với (cái gì)
    Ex: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
    * allow (sb) to (V) …: cho phép (ai) làm gì
    Ex: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
    * accuse (sb) of (V-ing) …: buộc tội (ai) vì đã (làm gì)
    Ex: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

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