Main Ideas Questions (15:2)

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MAIN

IDEAS
Text 1

Yet the popularity of rock climbing and its sister sport, bouldering, is raising questions about the
damaging environmental effects of climbing chalk—a ubiquitous and essential climbing tool. Made from
magnesium carbonate, climbing chalk is the same substance that gymnasts and weightlifters use to improve
their grip on bars and weights. In fact, it was first introduced to rock climbing in the 1950s by John Gill, who
was a gymnast in college before he turned his attention to bouldering. Since then, amateur and professional
climbers alike have come to depend on the chalk’s desiccating and friction-inducing properties—and have
been leaving streaks of the stuff on rock faces around the world.

The resulting “chalk graffiti” has become so bad in the United States that parks are beginning to
restrict its use. Utah’s Arches National Park allows only colored chalk that mostly matches rocks, while
Colorado’s Garden of the Gods National Natural Landmark banned all chalk and chalk substitutes. Native
American tribes have declared areas under Indigenous control off-limits to climbers, not only because of
unsightly chalk marks but also to preserve spiritually important areas.

Beyond the visual pollution, new research suggests chalk may be harming the flora that grows on
rocks. The latest study on the effects of climbing chalk, released October 2020, found that it negatively
impacted both the germination and survival of four species each of rock-dwelling ferns and mosses in
laboratory settings. Wiping it off doesn’t seem to help; chemical trails on cleaned boulders changed the rock
surface’s pH balance, which could affect the ability of plants to grow there in the future.

Adapted from National Geographic, Rock climbing is getting more popular—and that concerns conservationists.

1. By writing paragraph 1, the author intends


to tell the reader about … 3. What is the author’s purpose in writing the
(A) The rock climbing’s sister sport passage …
(B) Climbing chalk might have polluted (A) Native American declaration to limit
the environment the spiritual important areas to the
(C) The brief history about rock climbing climber
sport (B) Positive impact from rock climbing
(D) Chalk graffiti now being restricted in activities
some USA’s national parks (C) Reason why rock climbing sport gain
(E) The climbing rock have significant popularity in USA
impact to the flora surrounding the (D) Aside from the increasing popularity
rocks of rock climbing, it has some
environmental damage
2. Based on the passage, paragraph 4 most (E) Utah’s Arches National Park suffer
likely discusses … from rock climbing chalk
(A) Close the rock-climbing sport due its
environmental damages 4. The author agree that the chalk polluted
(B) The chemical trails on boulder change the environment by…
the ability of plants to grow (A) The visual pollution and substance
(C) New formula of rock-climbing chalk pollution from chalk
so it doesn’t pollute the environment (B) Tourist activities creates waste
(D) More environmentally friendly ways (C) The national parks overwhelmed by
to play rock climbing rock climbers
(E) The popularity of rock climbing (D) Ecosystem of flora threatened by the
among the people in USA residue of chalk
(E) Rock climbing activities damages the
cliffs

Text 2

To some, coffee represents nothing more than a jolt of energy to start the day. But as a new exhibition
at the Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem demonstrates, the drink has been the subject of political and
religious debates, cultural exchange, and culinary innovation for centuries.

Coffee originated in Ethiopia before spreading to Yemen and beyond, reaching Mecca and Cairo by
the end of the 15th century. With the Ottoman Empire’s dominance of the Arabian Peninsula, coffeehouses
popped up around the region.

“One of the reasons that the institution of the café was so successful in the Middle East, a region
heavily populated by Muslims, who are prohibited from drinking wine, was people’s hunger for a place
where they could simply meet and talk,” Amnon Cohen, an Islamic and Middle Eastern studies scholar at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, tells Haaretz.

Religious authorities have engaged with coffee in many different ways. For some Muslim officials,
coffeehouses represented a threat to mosques as central gathering places, wrote John McHugo for BBC News
in 2013. But coffee also helped Sufi worshippers stay alert during prayer services. Meanwhile, Jewish
religious scholars have debated whether coffee should be consumed on the sabbath and whether Jews
should visit Christian-owned coffeehouses.
Adapted from smithsonianmag.com, Tracing Coffee’s Travels From the East to the West

5. The main idea of the text is … (A) Sufi used café to stay awake during
(A) Middle Eastern people love to drink night prayers
coffee (B) Muslims are prohibited from drinking
(B) Coffee used as a substitution of wine wine but need a place to meet and talk
(C) The brief history of coffee and (C) Muslims and Jewish drink coffee in
coffeeshop in the Middle East café
(D) Reasons why muslim brought the (D) Muslims love to drink coffee much
coffee from Ethiopia (E) Religious authorities engage café in
(E) The success story of café in the religious activities
Middle East
8. What paragraph(s) mention that café was
6. By writing paragraph 3, the author stated a threat to Muslims religious activities …
that …. (A) Paragraph 1
(A) Café was so popular because people (B) Paragraph 2 and 3
gather there to talk with each other (C) Paragraph 1 and 4
(B) Muslims are prohibited from drinking (D) Paragraph 2
wine (E) Paragraph 4
(C) Regardless of social position, café can
make people gather 9. What is author’s purpose in writing the
(D) Café was the place to fulfil people’s text …
hunger for drinking wine (A) Mention the successful of coffee in
(E) Only in café people can meet and talk Middle East
(B) Exhibit the popularity of coffee at the
7. Based on the text, the café spread end of 15th century
successfully in the middle east to around (C) Persuade reader to drink coffee
the world because … (D) Explain café spread in Middle East by
Muslims
(E) Explain coffee as a subject of religious
debates, cultural exchange, and
culinary innovation

Text 3

Hydrogen has an energy density three times that of petrol. It can be used to generate electricity
using a fuel cell, and hydrogen-fuelled cars are already commercially available. When hydrogen gas is used
to produce energy, the only product formed is pure water.

One prospective source of renewable energy is hydrogen gas produced from water with the aid of
sunlight. Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, have developed a material, nanoporous cubic silicon
carbide, that exhibits promising properties to capture solar energy and split water for hydrogen gas
production. The study has been published in the journal ACS Nano.

The material, which they call nanoporous 3C-SiC, has promising properties that suggest it can be
used to produce hydrogen gas from water using sunlight. The present study has been published in the
journal ACS Nano, and in it the researchers show that this new porous material can efficiently trap and
harvest ultraviolet and most of the visible sunlight. Furthermore, the porous structure promotes the
separation of charges that have the required energy, while the small pores give a larger active surface area.
This enhances charge transfer and increases the number of reaction sites, thus further boosting the water
splitting efficiency.

Producing hydrogen gas by splitting water molecules with the aid of solar energy is a sustainable
approach that could give hydrogen gas using renewable sources without leading to carbon dioxide
emissions. A major advantage of this method is the possibility to convert solar energy to fuel that can be
stored.
Adapted from sciencedaily.com, New porous material promising for making renewable energy from water

10. Why the nanoporous cubic silicon has a (C) Nanoporous cubic silicon carbide
promising properties to hydrogen gas further boosting the water splitting
production … efficiency
(A) It is a prospective source of (D) Nanoporous cubic silicon carbide
renewable energy made possible to convert solar
(B) It is more effective to convert solar energy to fuel
energy to fuel (E) Nanoporous cubic silicon carbide
(C) It can enhance water splitting produce hydrogen gas from water
efficiency using sunlight
(D) It can capture solar energy and split
water for hydrogen gas production 12. From the text, the author stated these
(E) Its features has been published in ideas, except …
several journals (A) Pure water is the emission of
hydrogen gas
11. By writing paragraph 2, the author intends (B) The small pores structure give a less
to state that … active surface area
(A) Nanoporous cubic silicon carbide (C) The study of nanoporous 3C-SiC has
developed by at Linköping University been published in the journal ACS
researchers is the latest innovation of Nano
hydrogen gas (D) Water and solar light are the
(B) Nanoporous cubic silicon carbide can components of making a hydrogen
harvest ultraviolet and most of the fuel
visible sunlight
(E) Hydrogen gas is one of the (C) Nanoporous 3-SiC can harvest
environmentally friendly fuels ultraviolet and most of the visible
sunlight
13. Why producing the hydrogen gas is a (D) Nanoporous 3-SiC convert solar
sustainable approach … energy to fuel that can be stored.
(A) It creates no pollution gas (E) Researchers at Linköping University
(B) Pure water does harm the have a cutting edge technology to
environment save environment

Text 4

The Malaysian government has been asked why it revoked emergency Covid regulations as cases
continue to spike. Malaysia has reported more than a million cases and 8,000 deaths so far, but experts warn
the real numbers are much higher as testing rates are low. Hospitals are crowded and overwhelmed - recent
images showed patients sitting on chairs and sharing oxygen cylinders. The country is also currently under
a state of emergency, which will end on 1 August and will not be extended.

Opposition leaders said they were not informed about the annulment, which happened last week,
and demanded to know what the impact on the wider public would be. "Why were we not informed? Whose
decision was it?" said Democratic Action Party deputy chairman Gobind Singh Deo during a parliamentary
session on Tuesday. These emergency ordinances included allowing people to be fined for breaching
movement restrictions.

Malaysia is now recording more than 14,000 cases a day, with a record 207 deaths recorded on
Tuesday. Hospitals have been turning away patients, with even those who do get admission not guaranteed
beds. On Monday, hundreds of junior doctors walked out of hospitals and medical facilities across the
country, saying they deserved permanent jobs and better conditions.

Undertakers and funeral workers have also told local reporters that they are overwhelmed with
requests to bury Covid-19 victims, many of whom have died at home. Some experts had said that even the
current emergency measures were "half-baked" and would not help improve the situation.
Adapted from BBC.com, Anger as Covid-ravaged Malaysia lifts pandemic measures

14. The author describe the terrible (A)


Parliament
conditions of Coronavirus pandemic in (B)
Funeral workers
Malaysia by … (C)
Opposition leaders
(A) Stating the cases and the death (D)
Doctors and junior doctors
records in Malaysia (E)
Patients
(B) Release the state of emergency status
despite increasing Coronavirus case 16. Many of the undertakers and funeral
(C) Hospital cannot guarantee patients to workers overwhelmed with …
get beds and treatment (A) Questioning the Malaysian
(D) The cemetery fulfilled with Government
Coronavirus deaths (B) New Covid cases
(E) Junior doctors overwhelmed with (C) Burying the Covid-19 victims
Coronavirus patients (D) Emergency ordinances
(E) Sharing oxygen cylinders
15. Based on paragraph 1, Malaysian
government get criticized about revoking
the emergency covid regulations by …

Text 5

The applications, games, and websites that are promoted as 'educational' are not always the best
ones for supporting learning. The fact that they are interactive does not necessarily mean that they are much
better than an old-fashioned workbook with its right and wrong answers. Children may enjoy these
products for a while but then get a bit bored. Thus, they are not the most appropriate or engaging way to
learn.

Treat so-called 'free' applications with caution. Some will expose your child to advertisements.
Others are designed to wait until your child is engaged in a game or storyline and then demand payment
before they can go any further. This can lead to frustration as young children do not understand why they
cannot continue. Sometimes it is better to make a small payment in advance if the application promises no
further purchases. However, some applications are free to download and completely free of advertisements
or in-app purchases.

Choosing an app needs the same kind of thought and care you would put into buying anything else
for your child. Do not rely only on the star rating. Instead, read the user reviews and check the privacy policy
if you are worried about the personal information that the app might be collecting. If you want your child
to enjoy learning, develop curiosity, and think about things creatively, provide them with a range of games
and apps. Open-ended games have become progressively more challenging and encourage children to
explore and have fun. They are, therefore, more likely to establish a love of learning and to lay the foundation
for their future development.

Physical activity, reading, and other more 'traditional' activities continue to play a very important
part in children's development. But, most parents do rely on screen devices from time to time to engage
their child while they are busy with something else. This is not a problem in itself, just as long as children's
time is made up of a balanced range of activities.
(Adapted from : http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3tsyrd)

17. The author reminds readers to be more


careful with commercialism in free 19. The author would apparently agree that ....
applications in paragraph(s) .... (A) Open-ended games can stimulate
(A) 1 children's love for learning
(B) 2 (B) Some games and applications are
(C) 3 boring because they are too easy
(D) 1 and 4 (C) There is no convincing prediction for
(E) 2 and 3 the future of the games and apps
(D) It is better to pay for games in
18. How does the idea in sentence 6 relate to advance so that children can learn
the other ideas in paragraph 1? freely
(A) Sentence 6 elaborates the other ideas (E) Apps star rating provides users with
in paragraph 1. reviews on the good things of games
(B) Sentence 6 is the result of the other and apps
ideas in paragraph 1.
(C) Sentence 6 strongly contradicts the 20. Regarding busy parents' reliance on
other ideas in paragraph 1. screen devices to help keep their children
(D) Sentence 6 is the implementation of entertained, the author assumes that ....
the theory discussed in paragraph 1. (A) it is the parents' responsibility to
(E) Sentence 6 provides another type of make their children less engaged with
free applications discussed in screen devices
paragraph 1.
(B) children whose parents are busy with (D) such parents' reliance is acceptable as
their activities must use screen long as the children are given the
devices less right proportion of other activities
(C) parents need to be aware of their (E) it is not tolerable as their children
children's need for varied activities need to have more physical activities

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