PART 2: No more than three words and/or numbers.

1. When does the speaker say we will reach peak world population?
2. What number does he give for the current world population?
3. What does he say about organic farming?
4. What other solution does he suggest?
5. Which three cereal crops does he say are the most important?

Answers:
1. 2070.
2. 6.9 billion.
3. Twice more land.
4. Treble yields.
5. Rice, wheat maize.

Script:
But can we really feed a population of 9 billion people, which we will have by 2050? And it'll peak
according to the United Nations median projection at about 9.29.3 in about 2070. But can we really
feed that number of people? Well, at the moment we need a large proportion of the earth to feed 6.9
billion people. So if we add another 2 billion people and we ask. And we enable them to eat chickens
and pigs and all these things that we like to eat, then we're going to need a lot more land.

Now, it would be nice to do all this organically, but the problem with that is we're going to need a lot
more land for the cattle whose fertilizer is going to be, whose whose manure is going to be used as
fertilizer, etcetera. So we're going to need even more land. If we were using the mostly organic
farming technologies of the 1950s today, we would need approximately twice as much land to
produce the same amount of food as we produce today.

So let's not do that. And let's Treble yields. If we treble yields in farming, we could actually feed 9
billion people from a smaller acreage than we feed 6.9 billion today.

So can we treble yields?

Well, we've just done it.

In the last 60 years, we trebled yields. This is the yields of rice, wheat and maize, the big three cereal
crops which provide about 60% of human calories. And they trebled over that time, despite taking
effectively no extra acres under the plough. Nobody thought this could be done.

We were told repeatedly throughout this period by environmentalists such as Lester Brown that it
could not be done. And yet it was done. And how was it done?

It was done by getting dwarfing genes into wheat so that they put more of their energy into seeds
rather than stalks. It was done by the use of machinery and chemicals and fertilisers and all these
things that raised we raised yields in farming.

PART 3: Listen to the conversation between two friends and mark the statements as true or false.

1. Andy is writing an essay about different ancient civilizations.

1. F
2. F
3. T
4. T
5. T

Script:

A: What are you studying in your history class this term, Andy?

B: We're studying ancient civilizations. As a matter of fact, I have to write an essay about the Aztecs.

A: Oh, that sounds interesting. They lived in Central America, didn't they?

B: Yes, where Mexico is today. You know, Wendy, they had huge cities with temples, markets, canals
and everything.

A: I see. I'm sure their craftsmen were really skilled then.

B: Definitely. They built some amazing buildings and people have found really beautiful Aztec
sculptures and jewellery.

A: So tell me, when did they live? Was it in the 14th... 15th century?

B: That's right.

A: And what about their everyday life? I mean, for example, did children go to school?

B: Yes.

A: Really? Both boys and girls?

B: Well, boys went to school at about the age of 10 to receive general education and of course to
learn the art of war. It was every boy's dream to become a great warrior.

A: And what about girls?

B: Only some girls went to school. Most of them learned how to take care of the household. You
know, cook food, make clothes, things like that. They learned everything from their mothers, of
course.

A: That was so unfair. I mean, girls deserved an education too.

B: Well, things were different then.

A: So who was in charge? Did they have a king?

B: Of course. They were a big empire. But the priests and soldiers were very close to the king, and he
often asked for their opinion on important matters.

A: So what happened to the Aztecs in the end?

B: Well, the Spanish arrived in Central America in the early 1500s, and they soon conquered most of
the Aztec empire.
Part 4: You will hear a group of art history students going round an art gallery with their teacher.
For questions one to five, choose the answer A, B, C or D which best fits according to what you
hear.

Teacher: Now, let’s move along the next gallery…whose turn is it to tell us about the next
painting? Amanda, is it you?

Amanda: Yes, this is the one I’ve prepared.

Teacher: Good…now I’ve got one or two questions for Amanda to guide us through this
painting, so if you could all pay attention, we can get started…Brian…thank you. Now, as you can see
it’s a pre-Raphaelite painitng, so we’re talking 1880,1890…and what can you tell us about this-and
other pre-Raphaelite paitings for that matter-compared for what came before?

Amanda: Well, there was a very definitely a reactiona against some of the earlier concerns –
for example the pre-Raphaelites didn’t believe in the idea that it was important to be true to nature
or realistic… this is a good example – it’s by the painter Burne-Jones, completed in 1884, and it shows
a lot about his philosophy of paiting…

Teacher : Ok. And what was it exactly?

Amanda: Well in his own words,… Is it ok if I use my notes?

Teacher: Yes of course.

Amanda: He said that a painting should be’a beautiful romantic dream of something that never

was, never will be, in a land that no-one can define or remember, only desire.

Teacher : So in other words the very opposite of realism – no practical lessons for modern
industrial societies or whatever.

Amanda: Yes, exactly, and this paiting is in many ways very typical of Burne-Jones – in fact his
wife later said it was his most distinctive work, the one that really summed up what he thought.

Teacher : OK tell us about the story it tells.

Amanda: It’s called King Cophetua and the Begga Maid, and it’s based on an old legend from

early medieval times about a king who falls in love with a beggar girl, and finds that his love for her

is grater than all his wealth and power.

Teacher: Was it a well-known story?

Amanda: Yes – most people knew it well, but only through reading Tennyson’s poetry, in which

he wrote about it, rather than from the original story.

Teacher : So it’s another example of what we were talking about earlier – the link between the

romantic movement in literature and the movements in art … do go on.

Amanda: In the painting, the artist imagines the King sitting at the girl’s feet, gazing at her

adoration. Burne-Jones said he was determined that the King should look like a king and the beggar

should look like a Queen, and he had certain details such as the crown and the maid’s dress specially

made for him so that he could capture the detail. The setting has echoes of 15th century Itallian art,
particularly Mantegna and Crivelli, and it’s all elaborately decorated with highly wrought textures and

jewel-like colours. If you look at the clothing you can see what I mean. The two characters in the

background have got these rich following clothes, and there’s the same richness in the King’s
following cloak.

Teacher: So what is he trying to tell us about here… what about these anemones… do they
have any particular significance do you think?

Amanda: Yes, the maid is holding a bunch of anemones, and if you look closely you can see
that some of them have fallen on the steps by the King. The flowers are a symbol of unrequited love,
and there’s a lot of personal feeling in this paiting, as there is in much of his work. At the time he was
doing this, Burne-Jones had met and fallen in love with a girl called Frances Graham, but she then
married someone else. So it’s likely that the King represents Burne-Jones and the represents Frances
Graham, and the painting shows his feelings about losing the woman he loved.

Teacher: Are there any other themes that the audience in 1884 would have recognized apart
from on this personal level?

Amanda: Yes, to the general public it would have had a completely different meaning, whichs

they have recognized quite easily – they would interpret the paiting as being about the rejection of

worldly wealt and the elevation of love above everything else.

Teacher: Yes, absolutely… and that was a message that was very close to Burne-Jone’s heart

and was very relevant for late Victorian Britain… Well thank you Amanda, and now we’ll move on to

the next artist…