IELTSwithJurabek

PASSAGE 2

Read the text and answer questions 14-26

CORAL REEFS

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups.

A Coral reefs are estimated to cover 284,300 km2, just under 0.1% of the ocean's surface area, about half the area of France. The Indo-Pacific region accounts for 91.9% of this total area. Southeast Asia accounts for 32.3% of that figure, while the Pacific including Australia accounts for 40.8%. Atlantic and Caribbean coral reefs account for 7.6%. Yet often called "rainforests of the sea", coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They provide a home for 25% of all marine species, including fish, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, echinoderms, sponges, tunicates and other cnidarians. Paradoxically, coral reefs flourish even though they are surrounded by ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are most commonly found at shallow depths in tropical waters, but deep water and cold water corals also exist on smaller scales in other areas. Although corals exist both in temperate and tropical waters, shallow-water reefs form only in a zone extending from 30°N to 30°S of the equator. Deep water coral can exist at greater depths and colder temperatures at much higher latitudes, as far north as Norway. Coral reefs are rare along the American and African west coasts. This is due primarily to upwelling and strong cold coastal currents that reduce water temperatures in these areas. Corals are seldom found along the coastline of South Asia from the eastern tip of India to the Bangladesh and Myanmar borders. They are also rare along the coast around northeastern South America and Bangladesh due to the freshwater released from the Amazon and Ganges Rivers, respectively.

B Coral reefs deliver ecosystem services to tourism, fisheries, and coastline protection. The global economic value of coral reefs has been estimated at as much as US$375 billion per year. Coral reefs protect shorelines by absorbing wave energy, and many small islands would not exist without their reefs to protect them.

C The value of reefs in biodiverse regions can be even higher. In parts of Indonesia and the Caribbean where tourism is the main use, reefs are estimated to be worth US$1 million per square kilometer, based on the cost of maintaining sandy beaches and the value of attracting snorkelers and scuba divers. Meanwhile, a recent study of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia found that the reef is worth more to the country as an intact ecosystem than an extractive reserve for fishing. Each year more than 1.8 million tourists visit the reef, spending an estimated AUS4.3 billion on reef-related industries from diving to boat rental to posh island resort stays. In the Caribbean, says UNEP, the net annual benefits from diver tourism were US$2 billion in 2000, with US$625 million spent directly on diving on reefs. Further, reef tourism is an important source of employment, especially for some of the world's poorest people. UNEP says that of the estimated 30 million small-scale fishers in the developing world, most are dependent to a greater or lesser extent on coral reefs. In the Philippines, for example, more than one million small-scale fishers depend directly on coral reefs for their livelihoods. The report estimates that reef fisheries were worth between $15,000 and $150,000 per square kilometer a year, while fish caught for aquariums were worth $500 a kilogram against $6 for fish caught as food. The aquarium fish export industry supports around 50,000 people and generates some US$5.5 million a year in Sri Lanka alone.

D Unfortunately, coral reefs are dying around the world. In particular, coral mining, agricultural and urban runoff, pollution, disease, and the digging of canals and access into islands and bays are localized threats to coral ecosystems. Broader threats are sea temperature rise, sea level rise and pH changes from ocean acidification, all associated with greenhouse gas emissions. Some current fishing practices are destructive and unsustainable. These include cyanide fishing, overfishing and blast fishing. Although cyanide fishing supplies live reef fish for the tropical aquarium market, most fish caught using this method are sold in restaurants, primarily in Asia, where live fish are prized for their freshness. To catch fish with cyanide, fishers dive down to the reef and squirt cyanide in coral crevices and on the fast-moving fish, to stun the fish making them easy to catch. Overfishing is another leading cause for coral reef degradation. Often, too many fish are taken from one reef to sustain a population in that area. Poor fishing practices, such as banging on the reef with sticks, destroy coral formations that normally function as fish habitat. In some instances, people fish with explosives, which blast apart the surrounding coral.

E Tourist resorts that empty their sewage directly into the water surrounding coral reefs contribute to coral reef degradation. Wastes kept in poorly maintained septic tanks can also leak into surrounding ground water, eventually seeping out to the reefs. Careless boating, diving, snorkeling and fishing can also damage coral reefs. Whenever people grab, kick, and walk on, or stir up sediment in the reefs, they contribute to coral reef destruction. Corals are also harmed or killed when people drop anchors on them or when people collect coral.

F To find answers for these problems, scientists and researchers study the various factors that impact reefs. The list includes the ocean's role as a carbon dioxide sink, atmospheric changes, ultraviolet light, ocean acidification, viruses, impacts of dust storms carrying agents to far flung reefs, pollutants, algal blooms and others. Reefs are threatened well beyond coastal areas. General estimates show approximately 10% of the world's coral reefs are dead. About 60% of the world's reefs are at risk due to destructive, human-related activities. The threat to the health of reefs is particularly strong in Southeast Asia, where 80% of reefs are endangered.

G In Australia, the Great Barrier Reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and is the subject of much legislation, including a biodiversity action plan. Inhabitants of Ahus Island, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea, have followed a generations-old practice of restricting fishing in six areas of their reef lagoon. Their cultural traditions allow line fishing, but not net or spear fishing. The result is both the biomass and individual fish sizes are significantly larger in these areas than in places where fishing is unrestricted.

PASSAGE 3

Read the text and answer questions 27-40

Rebranding Art Museums

A study of the reopened National Gallery of Victoria

As anyone with even a passing interest in cultural institutions will know, art museums are adapting to keep up with changes in society. Do any of these newly developed spaces indicate a fundamental shift in the ways we engage with art at the beginning of the twenty-first century? The answer is a qualified Yes - and also, it must be said, No. A clear sense of this can be gained by considering the 2003 redevelopment of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, in the light of the aspirations embodied in the original building that served as its template.

The first building was considered a thoroughly modern museum when it opened to the public in 1968. We should not forget that it was not all bad; there were certainly innovative aspects that one must credit to the vision and insight of the architect, Roy Grounds. For one thing, the 1968 building signaled a strong sense of engagement both in its design and layout.

It was set apart from traditional notions of art museums, and over the years, this idea has been questioned and superseded by the growing impetus towards an alternative model of the museum - one that engages the public in more open-ended ways. The layout of its galleries was designed to facilitate the rapid and efficient circulation of visitors. It also contained a series of greatly expanded temporary exhibition galleries and a vast Great Hall, which represented an unprecedented emphasis on the ancillary roles of corporate functions and public performances in the contemporary museum.

This last feature might have seemed excessive to some, yet how wise it has proven over the years as museums have come to place increasing emphasis on corporate sponsorship and the need to generate additional funds via room hire. Furthermore, the Great Hall has, for forty years, provided an area for children to roam at large before being escorted through the much less spatially accommodating galleries themselves. As an unintimidating introduction to the lifelong rigors of visiting art museums, its impact on attendance cannot be overestimated.

At the same time, other aspects of the 1968 NGV have not withstood the test of time so well. Foremost among these are the huge expanse of the exterior's windowless wall and the surrounding moat, which creates a rather unwelcoming expression of the institution.

With these considerations in mind, Mario Bellini's redeveloped NGV opened in 2003, and his design reflects what the new, improved, twenty-first-century global museum feels it should be emphasizing to its visitors. Here, the institution's energies are focused not so much on the technical subtleties of how to design the galleries themselves, but rather on presenting to the public a spectacular image of the museum itself as a welcoming yet efficient facilitator of social interaction, popular entertainment, and public knowledge.

All of this is certainly impressive, but where has the art gone? We are not allowed to see the exhibitions until we have completed the necessary inductions. We are greeted by a hugely expanded cloakroom, screening off our vision to the right, followed by a large visitor information office leading to the ticket booths. Above us is the cafe, and to our left, we cannot escape the NGV shop, set alongside the exit.

And what of the redesigned galleries themselves? In fact, they represent a wonderfully elegant reframing of the permanent collections in ways that should offer first-time visitors and seasoned members alike many new avenues for engagement in the years to come. But herein lies the conundrum posed by the NGV renovation and by the global sweep of new museum projects more generally. The mainstay elements of a permanent collection can become all too easily lost in the increased prominence that these rebranding exercises tend to place on the more glamorously spectacular aspects of the institution itself.

At its most extreme, this results in the construction of new buildings that supplant the artworks inside them, becoming the major attractions themselves.

These challenges are most keenly felt in the area of the temporary exhibition. Entrance to the NGV permanent collection is now free, so the NGV needs something to keep the paying public coming back. The answer lies in the international "blockbuster" exhibition.

For example, The Impressionists netted a total of 380,000 visitors, making it one of the most popular exhibitions in Australian history. There has also been, it needs to be said, a commendable attempt to leaven the international masterpieces with selected highlights from the permanent collection. Overall, though, the prevalence of these "rental" blockbusters cannot help but introduce a certain "off-the-rack" feeling to the institution's exhibition program.

More importantly, they narrow the options for other worthy but less glamorous projects, and they take energy away from the curators' potential to do further work on and around the permanent collection itself.

Yet the show must go on, and shows can't exist without the public. Even the most adroit organization, as the NGV assuredly is, needs to be able to juggle numerous, often conflicting priorities:

- The need to advance scholarship versus the imperative of access.

- The need to introduce audiences to new areas versus the necessity of luring them in with instant brand recognition.

Nobody said it was going to be easy, and the effect of too much innovation in museums can be disastrous.