HCM

CITY UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION MID-TERM TEST

HISTORY DEPARTMENT ENGLISH FOR SEPCIFIC PURPOSES MODULE 3
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (READING-WRITING)
DATE: 27th October, 2021
TIME: 90 MINUTES

PART 1: READING 25 QUESTIONS – 5 MARKS

READING PASSAGE 1: QUESTIONS 1-13
Pine Trees
I am looking at a very thick twisted trunk, rising to medium height, at which point appears a
stumpy canopy of spiky needles. It's a tree, but a very special one. Ron Simonson, a park
ranger explains. "It's a bristlecone pine, and it's been given the name, Methuselah". I ask the
obvious question, and Ron replies, "Because like Methuselah from the bible, this tree is very
old, one of the oldest living things on Earth in fact." I ask the next obvious question, and Ron
replies, "Basically Methuselah has existed throughout virtually all of recorded human
history." I look again at this quiet and unassuming tree, beginning to realise it is worthy of
great respect.
Being in a cold climate, facing limited summer seasons, rooted in nutrient poor and dry soil,
and subject to high winds and withering winters, bristlecone pines mature very slowly indeed.
Yet mature they do, as with all pines becoming fractionally thicker every year as another
growth ring is added to their truck. By counting these, we can accurately state that, as of
2011, Methuselah was4,842 years old, meaning that it sprouted as a seedling in 2832 BC,
centuries before the ancient Egyptians began building their pyramids. And that's just one
fascinating fact about that well-known species of tree - the pine.
Pines trees are native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. Several species have adapted to
the harsh conditions of high elevations and latitudes, including Methuselah himself, growing
among the peaks of the White Mountains of Northern California.
Pines can be small, such as the Siberian Dwarf Pine, or huge, such as the Ponderosa Pine in
the wilds of Oregon, and there are over 100 varieties in all. They have been introduced in to
the more temperate portions of the Southern Hemisphere, where they are now grown

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widely, becoming a familiar feature in parks and gardens. It would not be too much of an
exaggeration to say that almost everyone knows pines.
These trees certainly have many telltale characteristics. They are evergreen, usually with
needle-like foliage and a sharp pleasant 'pine smell. They are often large and imposing, with
thick scaly bark, and always produce their signature pine cones. These formations are
certainly not simple. They can be male (small, inconspicuous, and shedding pollen) or female
(large, woody, and containing seeds), even when appearing on the same tree. They have
numerous scales arranged in a spiral, with seeds (on the female) tucked within. As the cone
opens, the seeds eventually fall out, mostly to be dispersed by the wind, or sometimes by
birds. In some varieties, the cones remain closed until their binding resin is melted by forest
fires.
This last fact - the need for wildfires for regeneration - is another fascinating aspect of many
pine species. In fire-prone areas, it can result in extensive stands of pines, a good example
being in 'pine barrens'. These are eco-regions of sandy nutrient-poor soil dominated by pines,
since the frequency of natural (usually lightning-induced) fires weeds out the less fire-
tolerant species. It is perhaps sad that modern fire prevention methods have resulted in the
decline of many pine species in the wild, and most ancient pine barrens are now being taken
over by other forest vegetation.
However, the situation is very different for home and commercial use, which has seen pines
become a very common sight. As these trees grow fast, can be planted in dense arrays, and
produce attractive and easily moulded wood, they are favourites for commercial plantations.
The wood is fragrant, but prone to decay, so it is most suitable for indoor or dry carpentry,
rather than outdoors, where more durable varieties are necessary. As for other uses of pines,
their branches are valued as Christmas trees, and their wood is also pulped in factories for
paper and chipboard production. Pine resin is a byproduct, and this is collected for distillation
into turpentine, an important industrial solvent.
In a more homely sense, perhaps what people most like are the cones, the largest of which
are regularly used by children and craft enthusiasts. With the widespread distribution of pines
across the Northern Hemisphere, cones form part of the many traditional cultures there,
where they are used for decorative purposes, fire starters, bird feeders, or just intriguing
natural playthings for young children. Many people lament that modern manufactured toys
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in the more affluent of these countries have displaced cones, although some Nordic
communities still teach traditional 'cone-craft' in high schools.
For some reason, I always come back to Methuselah. Ron tells me a story. In 1964, a student
was taking a coring sample from another bristlecone pine in the area. His coring toll broke,
so the tree was cut down to allow dating by an examination of a cross-section of its trunk.
Upon doing this, to the astonishment of all, 4,844 rings were counted, signifying that the tree
was even older than Methuselah. Ron smiles wryly at the thought. 'We deliberately killed the
oldest life on Earth. That's one reason why we keep the location of Methuselah a secret. This
tree is precious, and must be kept free from all human interference.'

Questions 1-4
Complete the sentences.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
1. Every year, pine trees gain another ________________.
2. The pyramids were built hundreds of years after ________________.
3. Typical of all pines are their ________________.
4. The wood from pines is not very ________________.

Questions 5-8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 5-8 on your answer sheet, write:
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
5. Ponderosa pines are the largest.
6. Pines are familiar to most people.
7. Birds usually spread pine seeds.
8. Lightning storms benefit pine barrens.

Questions 9-11
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Choose THREE answers from the list.
Write your answers in boxes 9-11 on your answer sheet.
Which THREE groups of people, A-F, particularly like pine trees?
9. ______ A. Plantation owners
10. ______ B. Outdoor carpenters
11. ______ C. People interested in craft
D. Certain native communities
E. Factory owners
F. Users of turpentine

Questions 12 and 13
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.
Write your answers in boxes 12-13 on your answer sheet.
12. Pine cones are
A. complicated.
B. male.
C. mostly the same size.
D. often used as toys in affluent countries.
13. Methuselah is
A. 4,842 years old.
B. the oldest tree ever.
C. visited by tourists.
D. not subject to much sunshine.

READING PASSAGE 2: QUESTIONS 14-25

An Insanely Dangerous Activity

Agnes Milowka was one of the foremost cave divers in the world. Female, photogenic, and
experienced, she had gained international recognition for her exploratory work in
many underground caverns around the world. In early 2011, she entered Tank Cave, near
Mount Gambier, a seven-kilometre maze of narrow tunnels – yet ones she had explored many

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times before. Deep inside, she parted company from her dive buddy to explore a tight
passageway through which only one person could pass. What happened next will never be
exactly known, but the nature of the cave suggests that she became disoriented during a ‘silt-
out’. Unable to manoeuvre quickly, with visibility almost zero, she could not find her way
back, and her air ran out.
Thinking of these last moments is disturbing, but illustrates the obvious dangers of cave
diving. When anything goes wrong, divers cannot swim vertically to the surface, but must
instead navigate the entire way back. The dive is immediately abandoned, but even with the
full team at hand, the return is complicated by narrow tunnels, often lined with sand, mud,
or clay, all of which can be easily disturbed – the dreaded ‘silt-out’ – where, in a few seconds,
the diver is in a panic-inducing soup of sediment, virtually blind. Artificial light is swallowed
in the pitch blackness, and there always needs to be sufficient breathing gas. In short, cave
diving seems an insanely dangerous activity.
Yet the cave-diving community disputes this, arguing that their sport is actually safer than
normal open-sea recreational diving. This is due to the much greater degrees of experience
and training, and the special equipment used. Most fatalities that have occurred are a result
of breaking accepted protocols, where improperly trained and inadequately equipped divers
take on caves well beyond their capabilities. Cave divers maintain that, if the rules and
guidelines are followed, their sport becomes acceptably safe. In the rare cases where deaths
have happened while following these, there have typically been unusual circumstances, such
as unexpected currents or rock falls.
So, what are those protocols? There are five major ones, all decided upon after extensive
accident analysis (the breaking down of accident reports to find their most common causes).
Firstly, a cave diver should be trained and experienced. This is done in carefully documented
components, each dealing with increasingly complex facets of cave diving, and accompanied
with relevant, dive time before progression onwards is allowed. The next rule is the same as
with all diving, whether open-sea or cave. It concerns the maximum depths and the
decompression stops needed to allow the release of dissolved nitrogen from the blood. This
is all carefully calculated in a dive plan before entering the water, and every diver must strictly
adhere to this.

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The next two protocols each concern a vital piece of equipment. Firstly, a guide rope is an
absolute necessity. This is secured at the cave entrance, and fed into the cave by the lead
diver. Sufficient tension is always maintained, and often the rope is tied up at regular lengths
within the cave interior to ensure this. In the event of a silt-out, all divers, in theory, can find
this rope, using it to guide their way back to the cave entrance. Equally crucial are the lights.
A diver without lights is effectively marooned, unable to go anywhere. Each diver is therefore
required to have three independent sources: a primary, and two backups. These are checked
under the water when entering the cave, and the protocol states that if even one of these
fails, the dive is abandoned for all members of the team.
The final protocol is, in some ways, the most basic, and concerns the breathing gas. With no
quick escape, the ‘rule of thirds’ prevails. Here, one third of the gas is reserved for exploring
into the cave, one third for retreating out of it, and one third as a reserve in the event of an
emergency, or to support fellow divers. Most protocols suggest keeping each third in a
separate air system, so that the loss of one – for example, due to a valve rupture – will not
imperil the other two. Another variation is to ensure that these three separate systems are
used equally, so that the remaining air is kept balanced. Again, this is a defence against the
loss of one system, maximising the amount of air remaining for the return.
By following all such protocols, the risk is minimised, so that cave diving, as far as can be
proven with the limited statistics available, is said to be safer than driving a car. Yet, as the
sad death of Agnes Milowka shows, lethal mishaps can always occur. The question to be
asked then is why anyone would want to dive into cold, confined, pitch-dark, subterranean
cave systems in the first place. The answer is supplied by a cave-diving leader: ‘You get to see
things that human beings have never seen before. Nothing on Earth can compare to that.’

Questions 14-16
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.
Write your answers in boxes 14-16 on your answer sheet.
14. Agnes Milowka was
A. famous for her photography.
B. familiar with Tank Cave.
C. diving alone.
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 D. manoeuvring too quickly.
15. In cave-diving emergencies,
A. the return is difficult.
B. there is vertical escape.
C. divers often experience silt-outs.
D. some team members stay behind.
16. Cave-diving accidents usually happen
A. when equipment breaks.
B. more than in open-sea diving.
C. with bad equipment.
D. with a lack of equipment.

Questions 17-23
Complete the table.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 17-23 on your answer sheet.
Protocol Detail
1st have sufficient training and Progression not permitted unless there is
experience 17. _____________
2nd 18. _____________ must be must have sufficient 19. _____________
followed.
3rd must use a 20. _____________ must keep 21. _____________
4th must have at least three Dives do not go ahead if 22.
independent lights _____________
5th must obey rule of thirds each system usually kept separate,
sometimes breathed 23. _____________

Questions 24-25
Complete the summary,
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 24-25 on your answer sheet.
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After she parted from her diving companion, Agnes Milowka died, illustrating the dangers
involved in cave diving, yet there are 24. _____________ which prove it is acceptably safe,
and the attraction of seeing sights 25. _____________ before lures people on.

PART 2: WRITING - 5 MARKS
FORMAL LETTER:
You are organizing a field trip for your class to visit a historical exhibition held in Cu Chi
Tunnels.
Write a letter to the manager of this program and ask for information regarding the content
of the exhibition, the dates of its opening and closing, and if there are any discounts available.

You should write at least 120 words.
You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Your answer will be evaluated in terms of Task Fulfillment (2 Marks), Organisation (1 Mark),
Vocabulary (1 Mark) and Grammar (1 Mark).

END-OF TEST

GOOD LUCK!!!

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