English Written Exercise 11th Grade

I READING COMPREHENSION

Read the following text carefully.

The Prestige was a Greek-operated, single-hulled tanker flying a Bahamas flag, had a Li erian owner, and had een chartered y a 10 !wiss- ased "ussian oil company# $n %o&em er '(, )**), one of the ship+s tanks urst during a storm off the !panish 5 coast# The captain called for help from !panish rescue workers, with the expectation that the 15ship would e rought into har our# ,owe&er, pressure from local authorities forced the captain to steer the em attled ship away from the coast and head northwest# -fter pressure from the .rench go&ernment, the 10 * &essel was once again forced to change its course and head southwards into Portuguese waters in order to a&oid endangering .rance+s southern 20coast# .earing for its own shore, the Portuguese authorities promptly ordered its na&y to intercept the &essel and pre&ent it from approaching further# With the .rench, !panish and Portuguese go&ernments refusing to allow the ship to dock in their ports, the integrity of the oil tanker was 15 25deteriorating fast and soon the storm took its toll when it was reported that a section of the hull had roken off, allowing huge amounts of oil to flood out# -t / a#m# on %o&em er '0,in what ecame !pain+s worst en&ironmental disaster, the ship split into two parts and sank '1* miles off 30the Galician coast# The Greek captain of the Prestige was taken into custody, accused of not cooperating with sal&age crews and of harming 20 the en&ironment# The ship was carrying fuel oil, which is hea&ier than unrefined crude oil and more difficult to clean up# 1,*** tons of fuel oil were spilled in the 35incident# -fter the sinking, the ship continued leaking a out ')1 tons of oil a day, which polluted the sea ed and contaminated the coastline, especially along the territory of Galicia# Thousands of kilometres of coastline and more than a thousand eaches on the !panish and .rench coast were 25 40hea&ily polluted# The affected area is not only a &ery important ecological region, supporting coral reefs and many species of sharks and irds, ut it also supports the crucial fishing industry# The hea&y coastal pollution forced the region+s go&ernment to suspend fishing for six months, lea&ing the fishing industry completely de&astated# 45 Experts predict that marine life will suffer pollution from the Prestige for at least '* years due to the type of oil spilt, which contains light 30
Page 1 2 5

English Written Exercise 11th Grade

fractions of polyaromatic-hydrocar ons# These toxic chemicals poison plankton, fish eggs and crustaceans, leading to carcinogenic effects in fish and other animals higher in the food chain# The massi&e en&ironmental and financial costs of the spill ha&e 5resulted in an en3uiry into how a stucturally deficient ship was a le to tra&el out to sea# 4n&estigators ha&e since learned that prior to the spill the Prestige had left !t# Peters urg, "ussia, without eing properly inspected# - pre&ious captain who had complained a out numerous structural deficiencies within the ship was re uffed, and later resigned in protest# 10 What can e done a out catastrophic oil spills5 6ost important are measures to pre&ent them in the first place# 7nder international law, all new tankers must e uilt with a dou le hull, so that if the outer hull is reached, the inner hull will contain the oil#
http82www#newscientist#com 9adapted:

35

40

15

A- Say whether these stateme ts are !r"e #!$ or %a&se #%$' S"((ort a&& yo"r a swers with e)ide ce *rom the te+t' '# The sinking of the Prestige was so sudden that there was no time to
20

send an !$!# )# $il started to leak from the &essel a out a week efore it sank# (# The kind of oil the ship was carrying was one of the worst# ;# The oil leakage stopped after the ship sank# 1# Local fishermen were a le to start fishing soon after the clean-ups#

25

,- Go thro"-h the te+t #&i e 1 to &i e 15$ a d *i d sy o yms *or these words.e+(ressio s'
30

'# with the hope of )# to manoeu&re (# keep away from ;# immediately

35

1# ship <# weakening C- /hat do the *o&&owi - words re*er to0

40

'# its 9line '*:

Page 1 2 5

English Written Exercise 11th Grade

)# their 9line ';: (# which 9line )*: ;# it 9line )<: 1# who 9line (<:
5

<# them 9line (/: D- A swer the *o&&owi - 2"estio s with com(&ete a swers'

10

15

'# =o you think it was easy to determine the responsi ility for the Prestige spill5 Why 9not:5 )# Why wasn+t the ship allowed to dock in any port5 (# The Prestige oil spill had oth en&ironmental and financial costs# Explain# ;# What measures ha&e go&ernments of se&eral countries taken in order to pre&ent accidents like this5

II 3oca4"&ary a d 5a -"a-e
A. /rite the words *or the c&"es -i)e
1' 1' 6' 7' 5' 8' 9' :' ;' 1<' 11'
20

4e&ow'

E N 3 I R O N M E N !

1. -

shaking or trem ling of the earth the heat in the atmosphere and causing glo al warming

2. Trapping 3. %ot

waste

25 4. $il floating on water as a result of an accident

5. $il

and coal are examples of natural ###

Page 6 2 5

English Written Exercise 11th Grade

6. -

long period of time when there is no rain of the most dangerous gases produced y cars happens to ice ergs ecause of the rise in temperature material and water from people+s houses and industry ear are examples of animals in danger of####

7. $ne

8. What

9. Waste

5 10. The panda and the polar

11. >hemicals

used y farmers for killing pests, especially insects###

10, Rewrite the *o&&owi - se te ces starti - them as show

4e&ow'

'# The hotel wasn+t clean# 4t wasn+t comforta le too# ...neither.... )# =on+t shout so loudly, please?@ Sally ordered the children...
15(# We can lea&e today or we can lea&e tomorrow#

...either... ;# =uring our dinner, one of the guests felt sick# While ... 1# 4 mo&ed to 6adrid ten years ago#
20...since...

<# Tom went to England last summer# ,e didn+t &isit Buckingham Palace, though# In spite of... A# The car is so expensi&e that we ha&e decided not to uy it#
25such
Page 7 2 5

English Written Exercise 11th Grade

/# 4 was used to tra&elling &ery often a road# I used to... III - /riti 5Ma=e a comme t o

the *o&&owi - stateme t #15<- 1:< words$>

BWhen the last tree is cut down, the last fish killed, and the last ri&er poisoned, then you will see that you can+t eat money# Greenpeace

Page 5 2 5