Read the passage carefully and answer question.
The eco-friendly glass that’s hard to crack
There's laughter over the phone as John Mauro calls out my question to one of his researchers: just how much pummelling with a mallet does it take to break the new glass they have developed? "You've got to put your body into it," says Prof Mauro, of Pennsylvania State University, as he describes how the glass must first be scratched deeply with diamond or tungsten carbide stylus - and then hammered by a post-doctoral researcher wielding a mallet.
Prof Mauro claims the invention, called LionGlass, is ten times stronger than standard glass. Imagine a wine bottle unscathed, even after falling onto a tiled kitchen floor.
However, few details about LionGlass are available as the research has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal yet and the team have only recently filed a patent application.
One key detail is that, unlike standard glass, the production of this glass doesn't need soda ash or limestone. The alternative ingredients are currently a closely guarded secret.
Available: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66359047. Accessed on Oct. 24th, 2023 [Adapted]
In the fragment "However, few details about LionGlass are available", the underlined adverb means:
Read the passage carefully and answer question.
The eco-friendly glass that’s hard to crack
There's laughter over the phone as John Mauro calls out my question to one of his researchers: just how much pummelling with a mallet does it take to break the new glass they have developed? "You've got to put your body into it," says Prof Mauro, of Pennsylvania State University, as he describes how the glass must first be scratched deeply with diamond or tungsten carbide stylus - and then hammered by a post-doctoral researcher wielding a mallet.
Prof Mauro claims the invention, called LionGlass, is ten times stronger than standard glass. Imagine a wine bottle unscathed, even after falling onto a tiled kitchen floor.
However, few details about LionGlass are available as the research has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal yet and the team have only recently filed a patent application.
One key detail is that, unlike standard glass, the production of this glass doesn't need soda ash or limestone. The alternative ingredients are currently a closely guarded secret.
Available: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66359047. Accessed on Oct. 24th, 2023 [Adapted]
Which statement is true according to the extract?
Read the passage carefully and answer question.
The eco-friendly glass that’s hard to crack
There's laughter over the phone as John Mauro calls out my question to one of his researchers: just how much pummelling with a mallet does it take to break the new glass they have developed? "You've got to put your body into it," says Prof Mauro, of Pennsylvania State University, as he describes how the glass must first be scratched deeply with diamond or tungsten carbide stylus - and then hammered by a post-doctoral researcher wielding a mallet.
Prof Mauro claims the invention, called LionGlass, is ten times stronger than standard glass. Imagine a wine bottle unscathed, even after falling onto a tiled kitchen floor.
However, few details about LionGlass are available as the research has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal yet and the team have only recently filed a patent application.
One key detail is that, unlike standard glass, the production of this glass doesn't need soda ash or limestone. The alternative ingredients are currently a closely guarded secret.
Available: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66359047. Accessed on Oct. 24th, 2023 [Adapted]
What have the team of researchers done recently?
Read the passage carefully and answer question.
The eco-friendly glass that’s hard to crack
There's laughter over the phone as John Mauro calls out my question to one of his researchers: just how much pummelling with a mallet does it take to break the new glass they have developed? "You've got to put your body into it," says Prof Mauro, of Pennsylvania State University, as he describes how the glass must first be scratched deeply with diamond or tungsten carbide stylus - and then hammered by a post-doctoral researcher wielding a mallet.
Prof Mauro claims the invention, called LionGlass, is ten times stronger than standard glass. Imagine a wine bottle unscathed, even after falling onto a tiled kitchen floor.
However, few details about LionGlass are available as the research has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal yet and the team have only recently filed a patent application.
One key detail is that, unlike standard glass, the production of this glass doesn't need soda ash or limestone. The alternative ingredients are currently a closely guarded secret.
Available: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66359047. Accessed on Oct. 24th, 2023 [Adapted]
In "A post-doctorate researcher wielding a mallet", what does the underlined verb mean?
Read the passage carefully and answer question
Drought turns Amazonian capital into climate dystopia
Forest fires leave Manaus with second worst air quality in the world, while low river levels cut off communities
A withering drought has turned the Amazonian capital of Manaus into a climate dystopia with the second worst air quality in the world and rivers at the lowest levels in 121 years.
The city of 1 million people, which is surrounded by a forest of trees, normally basks under blue skies. Tourists take pleasure boats to the nearby meeting of the Negro and Amazon (known locally as the Solimões) rivers, where dolphins can often be seen enjoying what are usually the most abundant freshwater resources in the world.
But an unusually dry season, worsened by an El Niño and human-driven global heating, has threatened the city's self-image, the wellbeing of its residents and the survival prospects for the entire Amazon basin.
Rivers are the only means of access in many parts of the Amazon. Photograph: Michael Dantas/AFP/Getty Images
The forest capital has been enveloped in a murky brown haze reminiscent of China during its most polluted phase. The usually vibrant port has been pushed far out across the dried-up, rubbish- strewn mud flats.
So many fires are burning in the surrounding tinder-dry forest that air-quality monitors last week registered 387 micrograms of pollution a cubic metre, compared with 122 in Brazil's economic capital of São Paulo. The only city in the world that measured worse was an industrial centre of Thailand.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/18/drought-amazon-capital-climate-manaus-forest- fires-air-quality-rivers Accessed on Oct. 24th, 2023 [Adapted].
Which statement correctly illustrates the climate crisis in Manaus?
Read the passage carefully and answer question
Drought turns Amazonian capital into climate dystopia
Forest fires leave Manaus with second worst air quality in the world, while low river levels cut off communities
A withering drought has turned the Amazonian capital of Manaus into a climate dystopia with the second worst air quality in the world and rivers at the lowest levels in 121 years.
The city of 1 million people, which is surrounded by a forest of trees, normally basks under blue skies. Tourists take pleasure boats to the nearby meeting of the Negro and Amazon (known locally as the Solimões) rivers, where dolphins can often be seen enjoying what are usually the most abundant freshwater resources in the world.
But an unusually dry season, worsened by an El Niño and human-driven global heating, has threatened the city's self-image, the wellbeing of its residents and the survival prospects for the entire Amazon basin.
Rivers are the only means of access in many parts of the Amazon. Photograph: Michael Dantas/AFP/Getty Images
The forest capital has been enveloped in a murky brown haze reminiscent of China during its most polluted phase. The usually vibrant port has been pushed far out across the dried-up, rubbish- strewn mud flats.
So many fires are burning in the surrounding tinder-dry forest that air-quality monitors last week registered 387 micrograms of pollution a cubic metre, compared with 122 in Brazil's economic capital of São Paulo. The only city in the world that measured worse was an industrial centre of Thailand.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/18/drought-amazon-capital-climate-manaus-forest- fires-air-quality-rivers Accessed on Oct. 24th, 2023 [Adapted].
What has characterized the Amazonian capital atmosphere?