REVIEW TEST 5

NAME: Date:

READING (10 marks)

1 Read the article and number the main ideas (a–f) in the order that they are mentioned. 1 mark for each
correct answer.
a the glaciers are melting faster than ever before
b the speed at which glaciers travel
c what happens when there is not enough snow
d the glacial melt is causing the earth’s oceans to grow
e efforts to understand what is happening to the glaciers
f the development and life of a glacier

Until recently, the world’s frozen glaciers remained unchanged for millions of years. These ice sheets start life as
snow, turn to glaciers and eventually crash into the sea. They are essential to the world’s biodiversity. However,
across the globe these huge masses of snow and ice are melting. The impact on our environment is already evident.
A single glacier can move up to a metre every hour. For example, an astonishing 20,000 trillion tonnes of ice move
across the state of Alaska every day. And this has been the case for over three million years. However, Alaska’s
100,000 glaciers are now under threat of disappearing because they are very sensitive to the effects of climate
change. To better understand how and why this is having such an impact on Alaska’s glaciers, in recent years parties
of scientists have followed the melt streams that run through these slowly disappearing mountains of ice and snow.
These fast rivers of freezing water are formed as glaciers melt, and are an important measure of glacial health.
Every glacier is in balance. The amount of snow falling in winter must equal the amount that melts in the summer. If
that balance changes, and there is less snow than the amount that melts in the summer, the glacier will disappear.
Right now, that is what is happening. These glaciers are melting faster than they are growing. And when a glacier
disappears, it is gone for good. It tumbles off the mountains and into the sea, never to return.
Alaska’s glaciers are retreating at an increasing rate. Every year 19 trillion tonnes of melt water are pouring
into the sea and not being replenished. As the glaciers melt, it is the rest of the world that is affected. Alaskan
glaciers are melting so fast they currently account for ten per cent of the world’s rising sea levels. This is the most
dramatic transformation the area has undergone since the last ice age and shows how global warming is changing
our environment. Already, many of the world’s island nations are under risk of flooding. Very soon, these small,
defenceless countries could be completely submerged.

2 Read the article again and find the words or phrases that mean the same as the words in bold below.
1 mark for each correct answer.
1 Maintaining the variety of plant and animal life across the globe is essential for the future of the
planet.
2 Scientists first began measuring the differences in global weather patterns during the 20th
century.
3 Many coastal regions are in danger of being covered with water as a result of glacial melting.

4 The melting glaciers make up a large proportion of the world’s rising sea levels.

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VOCABULARY (10 marks)
3 Complete the text using the words and phrases in the box. You will not need to use all the words.
1 mark for each correct word.

climate change emission deforestation decade biodiversity aridity drought

consequences effects logging subsistence graze erosion leads to environment

The main causes of a are the need for commercial agriculture by big businesses and for b
farming by local people. It can have many adverse c ____________. These include d
, where the land becomes very dry and there is not enough rain for plants, damage to
animal habitats and e , which is related to global warming. An example of big business
agricultural development is industrial f where areas are cleared of trees for the large-scale
production of, for example, palm oil or beef cattle. Subsistence farmers also clear areas of trees to g
their cattle and to grow the crops they and their families need to live on. The h
of this can be disastrous. Clearing land by cutting down trees and burning them i
the destruction of the land through soil j . This happens when the layer of soil
that protects the ground is removed during the crop growing process.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT (10 marks)

4 Complete the sentences using the academic vocabulary in the box. You will not need to use all the
words. 1 mark for each correct answer.
issue area trend cause predict decade annual environment challenge

1 The greatest facing scientists today is finding a solution to the problems caused by
climate change.
2 It is not possible to accurately exactly when the last glacier on earth will melt.
3 There has been an upward in people looking for alternatives to fossil fuels to heat
their homes.
4 The Institute is publishing its report on the effects of climate change next week. It is
expected to be more detailed than last year’s report.
5 Our politicians must address this serious immediately.

5 Complete the collocations related to the environment by adding the missing vowels. 1 mark for each
correct collocation.
1 We can reduce CO2 in the atmosphere by switching from fossil fuels to r n w bl n rgy.
2 The increase in gr nh s g ss s in the atmosphere is one of the main causes of
global warming.
3 Human activity is a major cause of cl m t ch ng .
4 S bs st nc f rm ng leads to soil erosion, destroying vast areas of farmland.
5 Further nv r nm nt l d s st rs are inevitable, so we must be prepared to deal with
them when they happen.

READING AND WRITING SKILLS 3 TEACHER’S BOOK PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2014 113
GRAMMAR FOR WRITING (10 marks)
6 Complete the sentences using leads to, result, due, caused, because of, or because. You will need to
use some of these words and phrases more than once. 1 mark for each sentence.
1 A loss of biodiversity is dangerous to the planet it will limit new sources of food and
medicine.
2 Moving from cattle farming to producing crops may in lower greenhouse gas
emissions.
3 Island nations may be submerged rising sea levels.
4 Burning fossil fuels an increase in carbon emissions.
5 Demand for food and energy are expected to rise to the increase in the population.
6 Dry conditions following periods of drought may in forest fires.
7 The damage by environmental change grows every year.
8 The climate is changing human activity.
9 Carbon emissions are rising humans are burning fossil fuels.
10 Flooding is a potential problem to rising sea levels.

ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS (10 marks)

7 Complete the topic sentences using the words in the box. You will not need to use all the words. 1
mark for each correctly completed gap.
cause of changing effect number of causing devastating leading
three main due because because of loss results cause change

1 Human activity is the environment to change in a ways.

2 The environment is in ways.
3 Humans are the climate change deforestation and burning fossil
fuels.
4 Rising temperatures, of biodiversity and rising sea levels are the main
of climate change.
5 Human activity is having a major on the environment, which will
many problems for human and animal life in the future.

TOTAL /50

114 READING AND WRITING SKILLS 3 TEACHER’S BOOK PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2014