IELTSwithJurabek

PASSAGE 2

Read the text and answer questions 14-26

THE TASMANIAN TIGER

The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, was a carnivorous marsupial (a meat-eating mammal which carries its young in a pouch). It was given the name "tiger" because it had striped fur, and because it was ferocious. Between 24 million and 15 million years ago, many types of thylacine roamed across Australia, their powerful jaws playing a role in maintaining a balance in the ecosystems of their day. Some species were fox-sized, while others were barely the size of kittens.

But when a period of climate change cooled Australia about 12 million years ago, the numbers of these ancient thylacines began to decline. By about 3 million years ago, only one species was left. About 4,000 years ago, these vanished completely from the Australian mainland, so that Tasmania, a large island to the south of Australia, became the last remaining place where thylacines existed. They ruled the island's animal life unchallenged until Europeans - with sheep, dogs and a great indifference to native flora and fauna - seem to have brought about their extinction. In 1936, the last captive Tasmanian tiger died in Hobart Zoo. Since then, many expeditions have searched for tigers in the Tasmanian bush, but no definitive evidence has been found. Despite this, there are many who keep searching.

In 1981 Dutch-born zoologist Hans Naarding was in Tasmania conducting a survey of Latham's snipe, a species of endangered bird. One night he saw an animal in the light from the searchlight mounted on his vehicle. He described it as about the size of a large dog, but with slightly sloping hindquarters and a fairly thick tail continuing straight on from its backbone. He said that it had 12 distinct stripes on its back, running down to the point where the tail began. He reported the sighting to the Director of Tasmania's National Parks.

"When the news broke," said Naarding, "I was besieged by television crews, including four or five from Japan, and others from the United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand and South America." Government and private search parties combed the region, but no further sightings were made. The tiger, as always, had escaped to its lair - a place that many insist exists only in the imagination. Others disagree. There have been more than 4,000 claimed sightings of the animal since it supposedly died out, and the average number of claims reported to the authorities each year is now 150. So is it out there? Even experts differ in opinion.

Randolph Rose, Associate Professor of Zoology at the University of Tasmania, says that he dreamed of seeing a thylacine, but is now convinced that his dream will go unfulfilled. The consensus among conservationists is that any animal with a population base of less than 1,000 is headed for extinction within 60 years. Sixty years ago, he says, "there was only one thylacine that we know of, and that was in Hobart Zoo.

Take it from me, the tiger is gone." But Dr David Pemberton, curator of zoology at the Tasmanian Museum, states that, despite scientific thinking that a relatively large number of animals is required to sustain a population, the Florida panther is down to a dozen or so animals, and, while it does have some inbreeding problems, is still ticking along. After all, animals can be notoriously elusive. The strange fish known as coelacanth, with its "proto legs", was thought to have died out with the dinosaurs 700 million years ago until a specimen was dragged to the surface in a shark net off the coast of South Africa in 1938.

Wildlife biologist Nick Mooney has the unenviable task of investigating all so-called sightings of the tiger. It was Mooney who was first consulted in late February 2005 about the authenticity of new digital photographic images of a thylacine allegedly taken by a tourist. On face value, Mooney says, this particular account of a sighting and the photographs submitted as proof amount to one of the most convincing cases for the species' survival that he has seen. Many other sightings have been hoaxes, and many sincere seekers are victims of obsession. "It is a blind optimism that something is, rather than a something isn't," Mooney says. "If something crosses the road, it's not a case of 'I wonder what that was?'. Rather, it is a case of 'That's a thylacine!'"

However, Mooney treats sightings on face value. "I never try to embarrass people," he says, "but the fact that I don't pack the car immediately after they telephone can be taken as ridicule. Obsessive characters get angry that someone in my position is not out there when they think the thylacine is there."

Hans Naarding, whose sighting of a striped animal two decades ago was the highlight of a lifetime of animal spotting, remains puzzled by the time and money people waste on tiger searches. He says resources would be better applied to saving another endangered animal, the Tasmanian devil, and helping declining migratory bird populations. Could the thylacine still be out there? "Sure," Naarding says, "I know the vast south-west wilderness of Tasmania well. They could survive..."

But, if this is the case, it will not be long before they do disappear completely. Naarding believes that any discovery of surviving thylacines would be rather pointless. How do you bring a species back from extinction? he asks. "What could you do with it? If there are thylacines out there, they are better off right where they are."

PASSAGE 3

Read the text and answer questions 27-40

Graffiti in New York City

Spray-painted graffiti can be seen on city walls or on trains in many cities, and New York is no exception. Since the late eighties, New York City's policy on graffiti has been based on the broken windows thesis. This theory, introduced in 1982 in Atlantic Monthly by James Q Wilson and George L Kelling, argues that petty non-violent crimes such as the creation of graffiti increase overall crime. The theory reasons that if minor signs of disorder such as broken windows and graffiti are left unfixed, potential criminals assume that chaos reigns, and commit more crimes. As Lieutenant Steve Mona of the New York City Vandal Squad states in his anti-graffiti program, "Graffiti gives the look of disorder, as if nobody is in control. Graffiti is the first sign that a neighborhood is falling apart."

New York has spent a large amount of time and money fighting graffiti in the belief that these efforts will send a message that there is someone in charge, and overall crime will fall. However, while the application of the "broken windows" thesis is credited by some as causing the fall in crime in New York, there is little evidence supporting this. Instead, many criminologists attribute the reduction in crime to a collection of causes, only one of which is the attention to small, visible crime by the police. However, of these small crimes, graffiti still gets a particularly bad rap from the New York City Transit Authority.

According to its website, "Graffiti has long been viewed as the most obvious sign of urban blight." Reasons for concern expressed by the Mayor of New York about the presence of graffiti include the belief that graffiti is a threat to the quality of life in the city, and that it leads to greater acts of crime. The Mayor also argues that it causes millions of dollars of damage to property holders and to the city, and that graffiti tags (decorated initials) are a means of communication for gangs.

While the Mayor's contentions are valid, they only apply to the most degenerate types of graffiti. City administrators lump together all forms of graffiti: artistic, meaningful, and gang- or drug-related, into one undesirable group. This oversimplifies the realities of street art. Graffiti artist Dmitri Wright comments: "Graffiti has a multitude of forms and meanings but a lot of the connotations of the art form and how it is linked to street culture create a divide. All its opponents need to do is look at some of it. It is absolutely spectacular, but sometimes people can't get past their own culture."

The beautiful graffiti-art that can be found today throughout the city, on commissioned walls and in art galleries, is an expression of New York like no other art form. Its artists either come from the city itself or are drawn to the city from around the world. Surely, in the right context, graffiti-art can become a powerful tool to promote New York City's identity and originality. Although graffiti first emerged as an illegal form of expression, its influence on the art world is increasingly present, and many large-scale pieces are impressive not only in their size, but also in their artistic themes and techniques. Today, New York graffiti-art on canvas can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

Graffiti New York-style has its roots in a social movement of young people in the seventies and eighties, and the themes in graffiti-art were undeniably a reflection of social factors at play in New York. The city's youths wanted to speak out about the issues that affected them and have their messages heard. Kids with nothing more than ingenuity could gain recognition as minor celebrities. Graffiti artist King Bee explains: "In the world of graffiti, every writer or artist, one way or another, participates in the fame game. They all seek recognition for their creativity in the who's who in the graffiti game."

Graffiti grew in part out of a reaction to the fact that the city was becoming covered in advertisements. City administrators did not see the connection between the rise of advertising saturating the landscape, and the increasing saturation of the city with graffiti. It was a natural progression that the youth of the day would use the same tools to sell themselves that the corporations were using to sell products to the public.

When considering approaches to the graffiti issue, there should be more productive ways to combat graffiti than simply banning it. The most common alternative suggested is creating a legitimate outlet for the graffiti urges of young people. Private groups such as The Phun Phactory have put this concept into action. Pat DiLillo, founder of The Phun Phactory, explains the logic behind his organization: "I figured if I created a place for the young people to paint [graffiti], then it would eliminate the illegal graffiti. Many of these artists start out as vandals. There is nothing for them to do; there's no youth program or anything."

Many graffiti pieces in the city, far from being related to juvenile delinquency, are dedicated to powerful social issues. Though their messages may be the same, ties between the city and graffiti artists are rarely sought and never formed, although many socially influenced pieces display the potential for creating such bonds. By providing a legal medium for the artistic impulses of the city's youth, the city could form a relationship with that generation as well as gain a beautified urban environment.