QUESTIONS 8 – 13 COMPLETE THE TABLE BELOW. CHOOSE ONE WORD ONLY FROM T...

13. 1778 - half the Banda Islands’ nutmeg plantations were destroyed by a ______

Key words: 1778, half, Banda Islands, destroyed

An event in 1778 is mentioned in paragraph 6: “a volcanic eruption in the Banda region

caused a tsunami that wiped out half the nutmeg groves”. “Wipe out” has the same

meaning as “destroy”, and it can be understood that the tsunami was the direct cause of

this event. Therefore, tsunami is the missing word here.

 destroy = wipe out

→ Answer: tsunami

Similar words in the

Meaning

Question Keywords in the

passage

questions

2 to surround to encase to cover something

completely, especially

in order to protect it

2 to break to split to divide into two or

more parts

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6 trading company commercial operation a business organisation

that exchanges goods

10 cultivated grown to grow plants/crops

12 to secretly take to smuggle to take goods out of a

country secretly and

illegally

13 to destroy to wipe out to completely destroy

or remove something

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Test 1 – Passage 2 – Cambridge 15

Driverless cars

A The automotive sector is well used to adapting to automation in manufacturing. The

implementation of robotic car manufacture from the 1970s onwards led to

significant cost savings and improvements in the reliability and flexibility of vehicle

mass production. A new challenge to vehicle production is now on the horizon and,

again, it comes from automation. However, this time it is not to do with the

manufacturing process, but with the vehicles themselves.

Research projects on vehicle automation are not new. Vehicles with limited self

driving capabilities have been around for more than 50 years, resulting in significant

contributions towards driver assistance systems. But since Google announced in

2010 that it had been trialling self-driving cars on the streets of California, progress

in this field has quickly gathered pace.

B There are many reasons why technology is advancing so fast. One frequently cited

motive is safety; indeed, research at the UK's Transport Research Laboratory has

demonstrated that more than 90 percent of road collisions involve human error as a

contributory factor, and it is the primary cause in the vast majority. Automation may

help to reduce the incidence of this.

Another aim is to free the time people spend driving for other purposes. If the

vehicle can do some or all of the driving, it may be possible to be productive, to

socialise or simply to relax while automation systems have responsibility for safe

control of the vehicle. If the vehicle can do the driving, those who are challenged by

existing mobility models - such as older or disabled travellers - may be able to enjoy

significantly greater travel autonomy.

C Beyond these direct benefits, we can consider the wider implications for transport

and society, and how manufacturing processes might need to respond as a result. At

present, the average car spends more than 90 percent of its life parked. Automation

means that initiatives for car-sharing become much more viable, particularly in

urban areas with significant travel demand. If a significant proportion of the

population choose to use shared automated vehicles, mobility demand can be met by

far fewer vehicles.

D The Massachusetts Institute of Technology investigated automated mobility in

Singapore, finding that fewer than 30 percent of the vehicles currently used would

be required if fully automated car sharing could be implemented. If this is the case,

it might mean that we need to manufacture far fewer vehicles to meet demand.

However, the number of trips being taken would probably increase, partly because

empty vehicles would have to be moved from one customer to the next.

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Modelling work by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute

suggests automated vehicles might reduce vehicle ownership by 43 percent, but that

vehicles' average annual mileage would double as a result. As a consequence, each

vehicle would be used more intensively, and might need replacing sooner. This

faster rate of turnover may mean that vehicle production will not necessarily

decrease.

E Automation may prompt other changes in vehicle manufacture. If we move to a

model where consumers are tending not to own a single vehicle but to purchase

access to a range of vehicles through a mobility provider, drivers will have the

freedom to select one that best suits their needs for a particular journey, rather than

making a compromise across all their requirements.

Since, for most of the time, most of the seats in most cars are unoccupied, this may

boost production of a smaller, more efficient range of vehicles that suit the needs of

individuals. Specialised vehicles may then be available for exceptional journeys,

such as going on a family camping trip or helping a son or daughter move to

university.

F There are a number of hurdles to overcome in delivering automated vehicles to our

roads. These include the technical difficulties in ensuring that the vehicle works

reliably in the infinite range of traffic, weather and road situations it might

encounter; the regulatory challenges in understanding how liability and enforcement

might change when drivers are no longer essential for vehicle operation; and the

societal changes that may be required for communities to trust and accept automated

vehicles as being a valuable part of the mobility landscape.

G It's clear that there are many challenges that need to be addressed but, through

robust and targeted research, these can most probably be conquered within the next

10 years. Mobility will change in such potentially significant ways and in

association with so many other technological developments, such as telepresence

and virtual reality, that it is hard to make concrete predictions about the future.

However, one thing is certain: change is coming, and the need to be flexible in

response to this will be vital for those involved in manufacturing the vehicles that

will deliver future mobility.