INSTRUCTIONS – Read the following text carefully and then choose the correct alternatives that answer the questions.

SOUTHERN HUMPBACK WHALE

INTRODUCTION

During the Australian winter, these ocean leviathans journey 3,100 miles north from their Antarctic feeding grounds to the warm tropical waters near Australia´s Whitsunday Islands. At the southern edge of the Great Barrier Reef, the 40-ton female humpbacks give birth to calves measuring 14 feet long and weighing over one ton. The Whitsundays´ sheltered bays keep the calves warm and safe from predators. During the next few months, the whales rest, sing, play and mate. The calves nurse, but the one thing the adult whales don´t do while in the tropical seas is eat. By winter´s end, adults are famished, and they head south.

This life cycle is repeated throughout the Southern Hemisphere: one group migrates along the western coast of Australia, others to southern Africa and South America.

SIGHT UNSEEN

Underneath the blue Australian ocean, film crews captured the elegant rituals of southern humpbacks as they swim, sing, nurse, and play. A mother humpback whale supported her young calf from underneath, so it could breathe easier near the surface. Calves drink 130 gallons of milk a day! While baby grows fat, the mother starves for five months, her blubber stores depleting daily. Unlike the cold Antarctic waters, the seas here don´t grow rich with krill that humpbacks filer through their baleen plates. But she provides her calf with rich milk that contains some of the highest fat content of any mammal´s milk – 45 percent.

UNIQUE BEHAVIOR

Humpback males sing a unique melody, full of high-pitched chirps and whistles interspersed with deeper gurgles and moans. Each male repeats his song for hours, which likely plays a role in courtship. The song may change over time, with males singing a modified melody in consecutive years.

Whale-watching tours take advantage of the humpback´s playful and curious nature. They often approach boats and put on quite a show. As whales journey south along the eastern coast of Australia, many stop in sheltered Platypus Bay around Fraser Island – a World Heritage Site – where they display the charismatic behaviors loved by whale-watchers. The crystal blue waters give a perfect window to watch the whales twist, roll and swim upside down, emerging to breathe, slap their tails or pectoral fins on the water´s surface. Breaching whales jump nearly all the way out of the water. “Spyhopping” means their head emerges, and they peer at the surroundings with their large eyes.

STATUS/CONSERVATION

Commercial hunting in the 19th and 20th centuries decimated most whale species. Because they migrate close to shore and swim slowly, humpbacks became a popular whalers´ target, and were hunted down to a few hundred animals in the Southern Hemisphere. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) implemented a moratorium on harvesting all species starting in 1986, and in 1994, declared Antarctica´s Southern Ocean a whale sanctuary. Now numbering over 10,000 in the Southern Hemisphere, humpbacks have shown incredible resilience, but their numbers still remain a fraction of their historic abundance. Recovery of regional populations varies, and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists the humpback as vulnerable.

Humpbacks also have two Northern Hemisphere populations that number around 11,500 in the North Atlantic and 6,000 in the North Pacific. Northern humpbacks are genetically differentiated from the Southern Hemisphere population, and have dark bellies, while the southern humpbacks have all-white bellies. They don´t interbreed, because while the southern populations are mating and calving in the warm tropical seas, northern populations are near the polar Arctic.

OUTLOOK

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) allows hunting by indigenous cultures but bans hunting of humpback whales. Japan has long engaged in IWC-sanctioned “scientific whaling” of minke and other whales, and plans to start hunting humpbacks in 2007. “We are all concerned about Japan´s plans to add this species to the scientific whaling quota”, says Dr. Scott Baker, a renowned cetacean conservation biologist. Iceland also just started commercial whaling in 2006.

Some Asian countries allow the sale of whale meat from incidental bycatch, and a whale´s value of $100,000 provides incentive for illegal harvest. Baker and colleagues used DNA to show that the whale meat being sold in South Korean shops did not match that reported to the IWC. Illegal harvest and sale of whale meat is occurring.

Australia and New Zealand have petitioned the IWC to create a South Pacific Sanctuary adjoining the Southern Ocean Sanctuary where whaling would be illegal. Thus far, it has not been approved by IWC.

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/animals/animals.html

Read the news and answer the following three questions.

Even for a country numbed by injustice and inequality, Brazil has been shocked by revelations that a poor mother who stole an Easter egg for her children was condemned to a harsher jail sentence than corporate executives and politicians who cheated the public of millions of dollars.

The woman – who is referred to only by her first name, Maria – was sentenced to three years, two months and three days in prison for shoplifting a chocolate egg and a chicken breast from a supermarket in Matão, São Paulo in 2015, according to local media.

She was kept in detention for five months before her trial, then found guilty of a first-degree crime. Although she was briefly remanded during her appeal, a second judge sent her to prison pregnant in November 2016. She has since given birth – to her fourth child – behind bars, and is now nursing her baby son in an overcrowded cell. Once the child is six months, it will be taken from her care.

The case is far from unusual, but it has drawn public attention because of an appeal by a legal ombudsman and a newspaper article that drew damning comparisons with the laxer punishments handed down to those convicted of far greater crimes in the Lava Jato (Car Wash) case, a sprawling corruption investigation which has implicated a string of major figures in Brazilian politics and business. (Jonathan Watts published in: theguardian.com)

Read the news and answer the following three questions.

Even for a country numbed by injustice and inequality, Brazil has been shocked by revelations that a poor mother who stole an Easter egg for her children was condemned to a harsher jail sentence than corporate executives and politicians who cheated the public of millions of dollars.

The woman – who is referred to only by her first name, Maria – was sentenced to three years, two months and three days in prison for shoplifting a chocolate egg and a chicken breast from a supermarket in Matão, São Paulo in 2015, according to local media.

She was kept in detention for five months before her trial, then found guilty of a first-degree crime. Although she was briefly remanded during her appeal, a second judge sent her to prison pregnant in November 2016. She has since given birth – to her fourth child – behind bars, and is now nursing her baby son in an overcrowded cell. Once the child is six months, it will be taken from her care.

The case is far from unusual, but it has drawn public attention because of an appeal by a legal ombudsman and a newspaper article that drew damning comparisons with the laxer punishments handed down to those convicted of far greater crimes in the Lava Jato (Car Wash) case, a sprawling corruption investigation which has implicated a string of major figures in Brazilian politics and business. (Jonathan Watts published in: theguardian.com)

Read the article and answer the following three questions.

Trump aide cites 'massacre' that never occurred to defend immigrant ban

A Trump administration aide corrected herself on Friday after a wave of criticism for referencing a 2011 "massacre" in Kentucky that never occurred to defend President Donald Trump's temporary ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

During an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Thursday, White House counselor and spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway said Trump's recent executive order was justified in part because of the "Bowling Green massacre" of 2011, which never took place.

Conway corrected herself on Friday in a post on Twitter, saying: "Honest mistakes abound."

The phrase "Bowling Green massacre" was the top trending topic on Twitter on Friday morning as thousands of social media users mocked Conway's error.

On television late on Thursday, Conway spoke about two Iraqis who came to the United States and were radicalized, adding, erroneously, "and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre."

She then said: "Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered."

In fact, in May 2011, two Iraqi men were arrested in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and charged with attempting to send weapons and money to al Qaeda in Iraq. They admitted to using improvised explosive devices against U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Mohanad Shareef Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life in prison and to 40 years in prison, respectively. Neither was charged with plotting attacks within the United States, prosecutors said.

Conway said on Twitter that she meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists" on the show. She also slammed a network reporter for criticizing her.

"NBC reporter texted me at 632am re:a diff story; never asked what I meant on @Hardball b4 slamming me on @TODAYshow Not cool, not journalism," Conway (@KellyannePolls) wrote.

Read the article and answer the following three questions.

Trump aide cites 'massacre' that never occurred to defend immigrant ban

A Trump administration aide corrected herself on Friday after a wave of criticism for referencing a 2011 "massacre" in Kentucky that never occurred to defend President Donald Trump's temporary ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

During an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Thursday, White House counselor and spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway said Trump's recent executive order was justified in part because of the "Bowling Green massacre" of 2011, which never took place.

Conway corrected herself on Friday in a post on Twitter, saying: "Honest mistakes abound."

The phrase "Bowling Green massacre" was the top trending topic on Twitter on Friday morning as thousands of social media users mocked Conway's error.

On television late on Thursday, Conway spoke about two Iraqis who came to the United States and were radicalized, adding, erroneously, "and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre."

She then said: "Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered."

In fact, in May 2011, two Iraqi men were arrested in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and charged with attempting to send weapons and money to al Qaeda in Iraq. They admitted to using improvised explosive devices against U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Mohanad Shareef Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life in prison and to 40 years in prison, respectively. Neither was charged with plotting attacks within the United States, prosecutors said.

Conway said on Twitter that she meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists" on the show. She also slammed a network reporter for criticizing her.

"NBC reporter texted me at 632am re:a diff story; never asked what I meant on @Hardball b4 slamming me on @TODAYshow Not cool, not journalism," Conway (@KellyannePolls) wrote.

TEXT III

How energy companies can adjust their business models to a period of recovery

The character of Chuck Noland, played by Tom Hanks, says near the end of the film Cast Away, “...because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?” He makes this observation after having survived on a desert island for four years before being rescued and returned to civilization. If you’re a top executive in an oil and gas company, more than likely you’re feeling the same way right about now — optimistic but extremely cautious.

Much of the oil and gas industry has survived an especially tough few years with weak demand and low prices. It has been difficult to make strategic decisions and plan for the future. Only now is the sector beginning to emerge from its upheaval. If there is hope on the horizon, we must, like Noland in Cast Away, remain mindful of the risk. […]

So if you are an oil and gas executive peering out over 2017 and beyond, you will face structural and cultural issues internally; many companies do not have the talent, organizational framework, systems, processes, or attitudes to be sufficiently flexible and innovative in an evolving and uncertain marketplace. You should be prepared to pursue new drilling and extraction technologies and to increase your research into sustainability and clean energy. To start planning for the future, oil and gas leaders in all segments might consider some fundamental questions: Do I have the right business models in place? How can my company develop new capabilities and in what areas? How should asset portfolios evolve? What type of technology plays should I invest in?

As companies address these challenges, we see a number of business models and strategic responses emerging between now and 2020.

(From https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/trend/2017-oil-and-gas-trends. Accessed July 19th, 2017)

TEXT II

Like Castles In An Aquarium, Offshore Drilling Platforms Are Sprawling With Residents

Just beneath the ocean’s surface, there’s an unseen world that most people will never have the opportunity to witness firsthand. A place where nature and mankind have struck a balance – a mutual respect, a friendship of sorts.

Offshore drilling platforms have become home to vast communities of sea life. Florid carpets of coral encrust their massive pylons, along with sponge, sea urchins, crabs, and snails. Swimming in the sanctuary of their enormous risers are schools of rockfish, bright orange garibaldi and angel fish. And splashing about on the surface is the occasional sea lion.

Now scientists have confirmed what some had suspected all along. Most of the sea life was actually created at the rig rather than having come from other parts of the ocean and settled there, according to the National Academy of Sciences. And fish that would otherwise perish in vast expanses of open ocean, settle within the safety of the structures.

Like castles in an aquarium, offshore platforms are sprawling with underwater residents. Scientists say these are the richest marine ecosystems on the entire planet. They are even more productive than coral reefs and estuaries, according to marine biologists.

The first thing anyone – trained scientist or casual recreational diver – notices around a rig is the big fish -- lots of them, say marine researchers and divers, alike.

For a decade and a half, researchers used submersibles to survey fish at 16 different platforms. When the researchers tabulated the data, they were surprised to discover that, by one standard, California’s oil rigs are among the most productive marine habitats ever recorded.

At the end of their production, however, the offshore rigs must be decommissioned. Scientific insight is adding momentum to efforts to convert some of these rigs into artificial reefs […].

(From http://thesurge.com/stories/like-castles-aquarium-offshore-drilling-platformssprawling-residents. Accessed July 18th, 2017)

TEXT II

Like Castles In An Aquarium, Offshore Drilling Platforms Are Sprawling With Residents

Just beneath the ocean’s surface, there’s an unseen world that most people will never have the opportunity to witness firsthand. A place where nature and mankind have struck a balance – a mutual respect, a friendship of sorts.

Offshore drilling platforms have become home to vast communities of sea life. Florid carpets of coral encrust their massive pylons, along with sponge, sea urchins, crabs, and snails. Swimming in the sanctuary of their enormous risers are schools of rockfish, bright orange garibaldi and angel fish. And splashing about on the surface is the occasional sea lion.

Now scientists have confirmed what some had suspected all along. Most of the sea life was actually created at the rig rather than having come from other parts of the ocean and settled there, according to the National Academy of Sciences. And fish that would otherwise perish in vast expanses of open ocean, settle within the safety of the structures.

Like castles in an aquarium, offshore platforms are sprawling with underwater residents. Scientists say these are the richest marine ecosystems on the entire planet. They are even more productive than coral reefs and estuaries, according to marine biologists.

The first thing anyone – trained scientist or casual recreational diver – notices around a rig is the big fish -- lots of them, say marine researchers and divers, alike.

For a decade and a half, researchers used submersibles to survey fish at 16 different platforms. When the researchers tabulated the data, they were surprised to discover that, by one standard, California’s oil rigs are among the most productive marine habitats ever recorded.

At the end of their production, however, the offshore rigs must be decommissioned. Scientific insight is adding momentum to efforts to convert some of these rigs into artificial reefs […].

(From http://thesurge.com/stories/like-castles-aquarium-offshore-drilling-platformssprawling-residents. Accessed July 18th, 2017)

TEXT II

Like Castles In An Aquarium, Offshore Drilling Platforms Are Sprawling With Residents

Just beneath the ocean’s surface, there’s an unseen world that most people will never have the opportunity to witness firsthand. A place where nature and mankind have struck a balance – a mutual respect, a friendship of sorts.

Offshore drilling platforms have become home to vast communities of sea life. Florid carpets of coral encrust their massive pylons, along with sponge, sea urchins, crabs, and snails. Swimming in the sanctuary of their enormous risers are schools of rockfish, bright orange garibaldi and angel fish. And splashing about on the surface is the occasional sea lion.

Now scientists have confirmed what some had suspected all along. Most of the sea life was actually created at the rig rather than having come from other parts of the ocean and settled there, according to the National Academy of Sciences. And fish that would otherwise perish in vast expanses of open ocean, settle within the safety of the structures.

Like castles in an aquarium, offshore platforms are sprawling with underwater residents. Scientists say these are the richest marine ecosystems on the entire planet. They are even more productive than coral reefs and estuaries, according to marine biologists.

The first thing anyone – trained scientist or casual recreational diver – notices around a rig is the big fish -- lots of them, say marine researchers and divers, alike.

For a decade and a half, researchers used submersibles to survey fish at 16 different platforms. When the researchers tabulated the data, they were surprised to discover that, by one standard, California’s oil rigs are among the most productive marine habitats ever recorded.

At the end of their production, however, the offshore rigs must be decommissioned. Scientific insight is adding momentum to efforts to convert some of these rigs into artificial reefs […].

(From http://thesurge.com/stories/like-castles-aquarium-offshore-drilling-platformssprawling-residents. Accessed July 18th, 2017)

TEXT I

Breaking the habit: From oiloholics to e-totallers

What changes in driving habits and improved batteries might do to oil demand

It has been a bad couple of years for those hoping for the death of driving. In America, where cars are an important part of the national psyche, a decade ago people had suddenly started to drive less, which had not happened since the oil shocks of the 1970s. Academics started to talk excitedly about “peak driving”, offering explanations such as urbanisation, ageing baby-boomers, car-shy millennials, ride-sharing apps such as Uber and even the distraction of Facebook.

Yet the causes may have been more prosaic: a combination of higher petrol prices and lower incomes in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis. Since the drop in oil prices in 2014, and a recovery in employment, the number of vehicle-miles travelled has rebounded, and sales of trucks and SUVs, which are less fuel-efficient than cars, have hit record highs.

This sensitivity to prices and incomes is important for global oil demand. More than half the world’s oil is used for transport, and of that, 46% goes into passenger cars. But the response to lower prices has been partially offset by dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency in America and elsewhere, thanks to standards like America’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), the EU’s rules on CO₂ emissions and those in place in China since 2012.

The IEA says that such measures cut oil consumption in 2015 by a whopping 2.3m b/d. This is particularly impressive because interest in fuel efficiency usually wanes when prices are low. If best practice were applied to all the world’s vehicles, the savings would be 4.3m b/d, roughly equivalent to the crude output of Canada. This helps explain why some forecasters think demand for petrol may peak within the next 10-15 years even if the world’s vehicle fleet keeps growing.

Occo Roelofsen of McKinsey, a consultancy, goes further. He reckons that thanks to the decline in the use of oil in light vehicles, total consumption of liquid fuels will begin to fall within a decade, and that in the next few decades driving will be shaken up by electric vehicles (EVs), self-driving cars and car-sharing. […]

(Dated Nov 24th, 2016. From https://www.economist.com/news/specialreport/21710635-what-changes-driving-habits-and-improved-batteries-might-dooil-demand-coming. Accessed July 18th, 2017)

TEXT I

Breaking the habit: From oiloholics to e-totallers

What changes in driving habits and improved batteries might do to oil demand

It has been a bad couple of years for those hoping for the death of driving. In America, where cars are an important part of the national psyche, a decade ago people had suddenly started to drive less, which had not happened since the oil shocks of the 1970s. Academics started to talk excitedly about “peak driving”, offering explanations such as urbanisation, ageing baby-boomers, car-shy millennials, ride-sharing apps such as Uber and even the distraction of Facebook.

Yet the causes may have been more prosaic: a combination of higher petrol prices and lower incomes in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis. Since the drop in oil prices in 2014, and a recovery in employment, the number of vehicle-miles travelled has rebounded, and sales of trucks and SUVs, which are less fuel-efficient than cars, have hit record highs.

This sensitivity to prices and incomes is important for global oil demand. More than half the world’s oil is used for transport, and of that, 46% goes into passenger cars. But the response to lower prices has been partially offset by dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency in America and elsewhere, thanks to standards like America’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), the EU’s rules on CO₂ emissions and those in place in China since 2012.

The IEA says that such measures cut oil consumption in 2015 by a whopping 2.3m b/d. This is particularly impressive because interest in fuel efficiency usually wanes when prices are low. If best practice were applied to all the world’s vehicles, the savings would be 4.3m b/d, roughly equivalent to the crude output of Canada. This helps explain why some forecasters think demand for petrol may peak within the next 10-15 years even if the world’s vehicle fleet keeps growing.

Occo Roelofsen of McKinsey, a consultancy, goes further. He reckons that thanks to the decline in the use of oil in light vehicles, total consumption of liquid fuels will begin to fall within a decade, and that in the next few decades driving will be shaken up by electric vehicles (EVs), self-driving cars and car-sharing. […]

(Dated Nov 24th, 2016. From https://www.economist.com/news/specialreport/21710635-what-changes-driving-habits-and-improved-batteries-might-dooil-demand-coming. Accessed July 18th, 2017)