IELTSwithJurabek

PASSAGE 2

Read the text and answer questions 14-26

SKYSCRAPER FARMING

A. 14 With a global food crisis predicted, a group of scientists is advocating an innovative alternative to conventional farming that could radically transform the way that food is produced. Today's environmental scientists are in no doubt that the world's resources of fertile soil are rapidly deteriorating, and that new land for agriculture is becoming ever more sparse. Intensive farming, urbanisation, desertification and sea-level rises are all putting growing pressure on the planet's agricultural land and therefore on food supplies. Currently 24 per cent of the world's 11.5 billion hectares of cultivated land has already undergone human-induced soil degradation, particularly through erosion, according to a recent study by the UK Government Office for Science.

B. 15 The global population is expected to exceed nine billion by 2050, up a third from today's level, and studies suggest that food production will have to go up by 70 per cent if we are to feed all of those new mouths. This means that scientists will have to develop new ways of growing crops if we are to avoid a humanitarian crisis. Indeed, UN Food and Agriculture Organization figures suggest that the number of undernourished people is already growing. And with escalating climate change, crop yields in many areas have been projected to decline.

C. 16 With this in mind, some scientists and agricultural experts are advocating an innovative alternative to traditional farming whereby skyscrapers packed with shelf-based systems for growing vegetables on each storey, known as "vertical farms", could hold the key to revolutionising agriculture. Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier claims that vertical farming could boost crop yields many times over. A single 20-storey vertical farm could theoretically feed 50,000 people, according to Despommier. And if the theory translates into reality as proposed, 160 skyscraper-sized vertical farms could feed the entire population of New York City, while 180 would be needed to feed London, 289 to feed Cairo and 302 to feed Kolkata.

D. 17 It is a compelling vision, and one that has already been put into practice in Asia, albeit on a smaller scale. But there are problems, such as initial investment and operating costs that are too great, says a spokesman for Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Nevertheless, Tokyo-based mushroom producer Hokuto Corporation is a model example of how a vertical farm can be profitable. "With 28 vertical mushroom farms operating across the country, it produces some 68,000 tonnes of mushrooms annually. Vertical mushroom farms have more advantages than ground-level farms," says Hokuto's Ted Yamanoko. Yamanoko goes on to highlight the relative cost-effectiveness of his organisation's farming practices together with reduced emissions of greenhouse gases.

E. 18 And the impact of vertical farms could extend beyond feeding established urban populations. Despommier sees them as being capable of helping centres of displaced persons, such as refugee camps, in much the same way that Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) units are deployed in emergency situations. "Developing an emergency response system for crop production inside specially constructed modular and highly transportable greenhouses would allow for humanitarian interventions, at least for refugees that are forced out of their countries by political turmoil," he says. "If you have three or four storeys of food already growing some place, they could become mobile units that could be picked up by helicopters and dropped into the middle of a crisis zone. The food would be ready to pick and eat. It could be designed to supply people with all the nutrition they need to make it through the crisis."

F. 19 But it isn't only about increasing food production. Despommier is concerned about the harm which farming has done to the world's landscape over a relatively short time span, particularly the elimination of hardwood forests. "Farming is only 12,000 years old," he points out, "but it has already caused most of the ecological problems on Earth. Vertical farming would allow us for the first time to feed everyone on earth and still return land to its original ecological function." Natalie Jeremijenko, associate professor at New York University, agrees. "The challenge that we have now is how we can design urban agriculture systems that not only reduce food miles, but also improve the world's ecosystems," she says. By significantly reducing the amount of land required for food production, vertical farms could help to enrich biodiversity. And according to Jeremijenko, this can, in turn, help to improve the productivity of conventional farms, as the health of agricultural land is often tied to the health of the surrounding ecosystems. Furthermore, vertical farming could dramatically cut the utilisation of fossil fuels and also reduce geopolitical tensions in countries where poor farming conditions cause conflict and malnutrition.

PASSAGE 3

Read the text and answer questions 27-40

MARKETING AND MIND CONTROL

How marketing and advertising appeal to the associative nature of the brain

While there had been a long tradition of giving rings as a commitment to marry, the custom of giving diamond engagement rings was in large part manufactured by one of the most effective marketing campaigns in history. In the early 1900s, diamond sales were declining, posing a serious problem for the company that essentially had control over the diamond market. In 1938, this company hired an advertising agency, which proposed reshaping social attitudes toward diamonds. As well as magazines showing film stars draped in diamonds, the agency arranged for movies to incorporate diamond engagement rings into their plots. The campaign culminated with the slogan: "A diamond is forever". At the time, the approach was unique. Rather than pushing a brand, the objective was to promote diamonds as the symbol of everlasting love. This was achieved by exploiting the associative nature of the brain: associating neurons activated by the concept of "love" with neurons that encoded the concept of diamonds. By 1941, diamond sales had increased by 55%.

Advertising comes in many forms, from blatant neon signs to subtly embedded products in movies. In each case, the goal is to mould our habits, desires and opinions. Our visual system is targeted by an avalanche of information on the internet, street posters, and billboards and in movie theatres. Our auditory system submits to catchy radio jingles and telemarketers. More surreptitiously, our olfactory system is targeted by variations of vanilla and citrus perfumes aimed at enticing us to linger in a retail outlet. It is difficult to measure how effective these campaigns are, but as in the "A diamond is forever" campaign, they can be so successful that they change the fabric of our culture. In the case of bottled water, we are swayed by advertising into paying for something that we can obtain for free. Most people cannot distinguish bottled from tap water, much less between brands of bottled water, which is why you rarely hear of a bottled water company proposing a blind taste test.

So why is marketing such an effective mind-control technique? It is interesting to consider whether other animals exhibit anything analogous to humans' susceptibility to advertising. If we provide a lab rat with two types of cereal, it will consume approximately the same amount of each. However, if we put that rat with another rat that spent its day eating just one type, when faced with a choice, our rat will now show a preference for the same type as the other rat was eating. Psychologists call this "socially transmitted food preference".

What many regard as the first documented examples of cultural learning in primates started with a clever monkey that lived in a colony of Japanese monkeys on the island of Koshima. She began taking her dirt-covered sweet potatoes to the river to wash them before eating them. Upon seeing this, a few other open-minded monkeys picked up on the idea. Potato washing then spread from monkey to monkey and, over the course of a few years, most monkeys were eating clean potatoes. Humans are clearly not the only animals to engage in imitation and social learning.

Learning by observation can be an extraordinarily valuable brain feature. This is how we learn to communicate and perform motor skills as well as deal with many everyday problems. For example, a newcomer struggling to purchase tickets and navigate the subway system in a foreign city may step back to learn from the people nearby. Humans and other primates exhibit multiple forms of imitative learning and this is called cultural transmission.

A component of advertising relies on the marketer's ability to tap into the brain's propensity for imitation. Anybody who has watched TV knows advertisements are disproportionately populated with attractive, successful-looking individuals. If we are going to imitate someone, we are more inclined to imitate those who appear to be popular and appealing.

Although not all researchers are convinced by the findings, a number of studies indicate that some animals also imitate dominant members of their group. Primatologist Frans de Waal provides anecdotal evidence of preferential imitation among chimpanzees. He noted that in one particular group the dominant male was hurt and was limping as a result. Soon other chimpanzees copied the limp, something de Waal considered unlikely if a non-dominant male had been injured.

Imitation is undoubtedly an invaluable ability, but often our propensity to imitate generalises indiscriminately, leading to poor decisions. When athlete Dick Fosbury revolutionised the high jump by jumping over the bar backward in 1968, imitators obviously copied his jumping style, not his brand of sports shoes. However, today, sports people appear in advertisements asking us to buy the laptops or sports drinks that they promote. Rationally, we know these people's success did not depend on these products, so it seems our propensity to purchase products relates more to neural programs that evolved to encourage imitation of those further up the social ladder. Today, companies engage in stealth marketing campaigns in which people are paid to frequent bars or websites to covertly promote certain products. Companies also perform studies in which they track the eye movements of people viewing displays, and carefully craft names, packages and jingles associated with their products. While we may like to believe that manipulation on a grand scale would not be possible, that is not to say that advertising is innately harmful. To the contrary, the marketing of products or ideas is essential to human culture. The point is that we should ensure our choices reflect our actual goals and desires, and we must distinguish between the dissemination of information which is for our own good, and our manipulation for the benefit of companies.