Tyndale International Qualifications

Tyndale English Language Level 4 Certificate

Mid-Term Test July 2010

Paper II Reading (60 minutes)

Reading passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on questions 1-14, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

GREEN VIRTUES OF GREEN SAND

Revolution in glass recycling could help keep water clean

A. For the past 100 years special high grade white sand, dug from the ground at Leighton Buzzard
in the UK, has been used to filter tap water to remove bacteria and impurities – but this may no
longer be necessary. A new factory that turns used wine bottles into green sand could
revolutionize the recycling industry and help to filter Britain’s drinking water. Backed by $ 1.6
m from the European Union and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra), a company based in Scotland is building the factory, which will turn beverage bottles
back into the sand from which they were made in the first place. The green sand has already
been successfully tested by water companies and is being used in 50 swimming pools in
Scotland to keep the water clean.
B. The idea is not only to avoid using up an increasingly scarce natural resource, sand, but also to
solve a crisis in the recycling industry. Britain uses 1.5 m tonnes of glass a year, but recycles
only 750,000 tonnes of it. The problem is that half the green bottle glass in Britain is originally
from imported wine and beer bottles. Because there is so much of it, and it is used less in
domestic production than other types, green glass is worth only $ 25 a tonne. Clear glass, which
is melted down and used for whisky bottles, mainly for export, is worth double that amount.
C. Howard Dryden, a scientist and managing director of the company, Dryden Aqua, of Bonnyrigg,
near Edinburgh, has spent six years working on the product he calls Active Filtration Media, or
AFM. He concedes that he has given what is basically recycled glass a “fancy name” to remove
the stigma of what most people would regard as an inferior product. He says he needs bottles
that have already contained drinkable liquids to be sure that drinking water filtered through the
AFM would not be contaminated. Crushed down beverage glass has fewer impurities than real
sand and it performed better in trials. “The fact is that tests show that AFM does the job better
than sand, it is easier to clean and reuse and has all sorts of properties that make it ideal for other
applications,” he claimed.
D. The factory is designed to produce 100 tonnes of AFM a day, although Mr Dryden regards this
as a large – scale pilot project rather than full production. Current estimates of the UK market
for this glass for filtering drinking water, sewage, industrial water, swimming pools and fish
farming are between 175,000 to 217,000 tonnes a year, which will use up most of the glass
available near the factory. So he intends to build five or six factories in cities where there are
large quantities of bottles, in order to cut down on transport costs.
E. The current factory will be completed this month and is expected to go into full production on
January 14th next year. Once it is providing a “regular” product, the government’s drinking
water inspectorate will be asked to perform tests and approve it for widespread use by water
companies. A Defra spokesman said it was hoped that AFM could meet approval within six
months. The only problem that they could foresee was possible contamination if some glass
came from sources other than beverage bottles.
F. Among those who have tested the glass already is Caroline Fitzppatrick of the civil and
environmental engineering department of University College London. “We have looked at a
number of batches and it appears to do the job.” she said, “Basically, sand is made of glass and
Mr Dryden is turning bottles back into sand. It seems a straightforward idea and there is no

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 Tyndale International Qualifications
Tyndale English Language Level 4 Certificate
Mid-Term Test July 2010

reason we can think of why it would not work. Since glass from wine bottles and other
beverages has no impurities and clearly did not leach any substances into the contents of the
bottles, there was no reason to believe there would be a problem,” Dr Fitzppatrick added.
G. Mr Dryden has set up a network of agents round the world to sell AFM. It is already in use in
central America to filter water on banana plantations where the fruit has to be washed before
being despatched to European markets. It is also in use in sewage works to filter water before it
is returned to rivers, something which is becoming legally necessary across the European Union
because of tighter regulations on sewage works. So there are a great number of applications
involving cleaning up water. Currently, however, AFM costs $670 a tonne, about four times as
much as good quality sand. “But that is because we haven’t got large – scale production.
Obviously, when we get going it will cost a lot less, and be competitive with sand in price as
well,” Mr Dryden said, “I believe it performs better and lasts longer than sand, so it is going to
be better value too.”
H. If AFM takes off as a product it will be a big boost for the government agency which is charged
with finding a market for recycled products. Crushed glass is already being used in road
surfacing and in making tiles and bricks. Similarly, AFM could prove to have a widespread use
and give green glass a cash value.

Questions 1 – 10
Reading passage 1 has 8 paragraphs labeled A – H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A – H in boxes 1 – 10 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.

1. a description of plans to expand production of AFM.

2. the identification of a potential danger in the raw material for AFM.
3. an example of AFM use in the export market.
4. a comparison of the value of green glass and other types of glass.
5. a list of potential applications of AFM in the domestic market.
6. the conclusions drawn from laboratory checks on the process of AFM production.
7. identification of current funding for the production of green sand.
8. an explanation of the chosen brand name for crushed green glass.
9. a description of plans for exporting AFM.
10. a description of what has to happen before AFM is accepted for general use.

Questions 11 – 14
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 11 – 14 on your answer sheet.

Green sand

The use of crushed green glass (AFM) may have two significant impacts: it may help to save a
diminishing 11…………..while at the same time solving a major problem for the
12…………..in the UK. However, according to Howard Dryden, only glass from bottles that
have been used for 13……………can be used in the production process. AFM is more effective
than 14…………….as a water filter, and also has other uses.

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 Tyndale International Qualifications
Tyndale English Language Level 4 Certificate
Mid-Term Test July 2010

Reading passage 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on questions 15-27, which are based on Reading Passage 2
below.
NATURAL CHOICE
Coffee and chocolate
What’s the connection between your morning coffee, wintering North American birds and the cool
shade of a tree? Actually, quite a lot, says Simon Birch.
When scientists from London’s Natural History Museum descended on the coffee farms of the tiny
Central American republic of El Salvador, they were astonished to find such diversity of insect and
plant species. During 18 months’ worth on 12 farms, they found a third more species of parasitic wasp
than are known to exit in the whole country of Costa Rica. They described four new species and are
aware of a fifth. On 24 farms they found nearly 300 species of trees – when they had expected to find
about 100.
El Salvador has lost much of its natural forest, with coffee farms covering nearly 10% of the country.
Most of them use the “shade-grown” method of production, with utilizes a semi-natural forest
ecosystem. Alex Munro, the museum’s botanist on the expedition, say: Our findings amazed our insect
specialist. There’s a very sophisticated food web present. The wasp, for instance, may depend on
specific species of tree.
It’s the same the world over. Species diversity is much higher where coffee is grown in shade
conditions. In addition, coffee (and chocolate) is usually grown in tropical rainforest regions that are
biodiversity hotspot. These habitats support up to 70% of the planet’s plant and animal species, and so
the production methods of cocoa and coffee can have a hugely significant impact, * explains Dr Paul
Donald of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
So what does “shade-grown” mean, and why is it good for wildlife? Most of the world’s coffee is
produced by poor farmers in the developing world. Traditionally they have grown coffee (and cocoa)
under the shade of the selectively thinned tracts of ram forest in a genuinely sustainable form of
farming. Leaf fail from the canopy provides a supply of nutrients and acts as mulch that suppresses
weeds. The insects that live in the canopy pollinate the cocoa and the coffee and prey on pests. The
trees also provide farmers with fruit and wood for fuel.
*Bird diversity in shade-grown coffee plantations rivals that found in natural forests in the same region,
* says Robert Rice from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. In Ghana, West Africa, - one of the
world’s biggest produces of cocoa – 90% of the cocoa is grown under shade, and these forest plantation
are a vital habitat for wintering European migrant birds. In the same way, the coffee forests of Central
and America are a refuge for wintering North American migrants.
More recently, a combination of the collapse in the world market for coffee and cocoa and a drive to
increase yields by producer countries has led to huge swathes of shade-grown coffee and cocoa being
cleared to make way for a highly intensive, monoculture pattern of production known as * full sun. But
this system not only reduces the diversity of flora and fauna, it also requires huge amounts of pesticides
and fertilizers. In Côte d’Ivoire, which produces more than haft the world’s cocoa, more than a third of
the crop is now grown in full-sun conditions.
The loggers have been busy in the Americas too, where nearly 70% of all Colombian coffee is now
produced using full-sun production. One study carried out in Colombia and Mexico found that,
compared with shade coffee, full-sun plantations have 95% fewer species of birds.
In El Salvador, Alex Munro says shade-coffee farms have a cultural as well as ecological significance
and people are not happy to see them go. But the financial pressures are great, and few of these coffee

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 Tyndale International Qualifications
Tyndale English Language Level 4 Certificate
Mid-Term Test July 2010

farms make much money. One farm we studied, a cooperative of 100 families, made just $10.000 a year
$100 per family and that’s not taking labour costs into account.
The loss of shade-coffee forest has so alarmed a number of North American wildlife organizations that
they’re now harnessing consumer power to help save these threatened habitats. They are promoting a
certification system that can indicate to consumers that the beans have been grown on shade plantations.
Bird-friendly coffee, for instance, is marketed by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. The idea is
that the small extra cost is passed directly on to the coffee farmer as a financial incentive to maintain
their shade-coffee farms.
Not all conservationists agree with such measures, however. Some say certification could be leading to
the loss – not preservation – of natural forest. John Rappole of the Smithsonian Conservation and
Research Center, for example, argues that shade-grown marketing provides an incentive to convert
existing areas of primary forest that are too remote or sleep to be converted profitably to the other forms
of cultivation into shade-coffee plantation.
Other conservations, such as Stacey Philpott and colleagues, argue the case for shade coffee. But there
are different types of shade growing. Those used by subsistence farmers are virtually identical to natural
forest (and have a corresponding diversity) , while systems that use coffee plants as the understorey and
cacao or citrus trees as the overstorey may be no more diverse than full-sun farms. Certification
procedures need to distinguish between the two, and Ms Philpoo argues that as long as the process is
rigorous and offers financial gains to the producers, shade growing does benefit the environment.
Question 15-19
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 15-19 on your answer sheet write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts with the information
NOT GIVEN if there is information on this

15. More species survive on the farms studied by the researchers than in the natural El Salvador
forest.
16. Nearly three-quarter of the Earth’s wildlife species can be found in shade-coffee
plantations.
17. Farmers in El Salvador who have tried both methods prefer shade-grown plantations.
18. Shade plantations are important for migrating birds in both Africa and the Americas.
19. Full-sun cultivation can increase the costs of farming.

Questions 20-23
Look at the following options (Questions 20-23) and the list of people below.
Match each opinion to the person credited with it.
Write the correct letter A – E in boxes 20- 23 on your answer sheet.
NB You can write any letter more than once.

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 Tyndale International Qualifications
Tyndale English Language Level 4 Certificate
Mid-Term Test July 2010

20. Encouraging shade growing may lead to farmers using the natural forest for their
plantations.
21. If shade – coffee farms match the right criteria, they can be good for wildlife.
22. There may be as many species of bird found on shade farms in a particular area, as in
natural habitats there.
23. Currently, many shade – coffee farmers earn very little.

A. Alex Munroe
B. Paul Donald
C. Robert Rice
D. John Rappole
E. Stacey Philpott

Questions 24-27
Classify the features described below as applying to
A. The shade-grown method
B. The full-sun method
C. Both shade-grown and full-sun methods

Write the correct letter A – C in boxes 24- 27 on your answer sheet.

24. can be used on either coffee or cocoa plantations

25. is expected to produce bigger crops
26. documentation may be used to encourage sales
27. can reduce wildlife diversity

Part 3

ANSWER SHEET

Paper II Reading (60 minutes)

Candidate’s name

Part 1: A/B/C/D
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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 Tyndale International Qualifications
Tyndale English Language Level 4 Certificate
Mid-Term Test July 2010

Part 2: A/B/C/D
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Part 3: A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

ANSWER KEY

Paper II Reading

Part 1: A/B/C/D
1 A
2 D
3 A
4 D
5 B
6 A
7 D
8 B

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 Tyndale International Qualifications
Tyndale English Language Level 4 Certificate
Mid-Term Test July 2010

Part 2: A/B/C/D
9 C
10 A
11 B
12 C
13 A
14 B
15 D
16 B

Part 3: A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H
17 E
18 H
19 A
20 G
21 B
22 D
23 C