Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-27, which are based on the two reading texts below. Read the text below and answer Questions 15-21.

Dupont Mortgage Brokers: an eco-friendly workplace

Here at Dupont, we take our responsibility to the environment seriously. We are committed to considering sustainability issues when making decisions about planning and management. We aim to improve environmental performance by continually addressing environmental risk. To this end we have established a dedicated team to promote environmental awareness and ensure employees are aware of their environmental responsibilities. We encourage all employees to notify us when they see that company practices have a negative impact on the environment and need improvement.

We have done a lot in the last years to be greener in our workplace, but we could do more. Here's a reminder of some basic actions that will lessen our environmental impact:

Good habits in the office

We ask that all employees continue to turn off all lights and electronic equipment, including computers, at the end of the day. If this isn't done, we are asking 'offenders' to pay a small fine-there is ajar for this purpose on Kevin Wu's desk and the proceeds will go to the Positive Planet regeneration scheme.

We're doing our bit to reduce landfill by having our used ink cartridges collected. These should be placed in the box by the stationery cupboard - Jetco, the manufacturer we use, arranges collection for recycling on a monthly basis.

In terms of reducing our use of paper, first consider whether it's necessary to print out a document. Will a soft copy do? Save it on file and save paper! We've ordered good quality recycled pap�r for the office to be used as needed; where you do have to print, make use of both sides of the paper. There is a tub in the photocopying room for any used paper; the cleaners will empty this into the large bin for recycling every week.

Placing orders

In terms of ordering stationery and office equipment, please use the following approved suppliers, which are all committed to reducing waste and eliminating their carbon footprint:

GreenCo Office Supplies Down to Earth

Jetco

Okapi Stationery

In all parts of the company including office, kitchen, bathrooms and staffroom, please use 'green' products, provided that they are within the allocated budget. To check a product's rating in terms of environmental impact, go to checkisitgreen.co.uk and opt for products that have a four-star rating or higher.

Read the text below and answer Questions22-27.

Becoming a tour guide Many people dream Of travelling for a living, but what does it actually involve?

Tour guides accompany visitors on tours, providing special information on places of interest, and managing the schedule for the tour.

Starting out

While you can work as a tour guide without formal qualifications, entry to the occupation may be easier if you can show you are qualified and you may like to consider taking a course. Options vary, but the Centre for Further Education offers a General Certificate in Guiding along with more specific subjects such as Guiding a 4WD Tour and Guiding a Ski Tour. You will also get some informal training on the job.

Many would-be guides start out as volunteers, working in a place they know well, showing tourists around. Experience in a related field such as hospitality is generally looked on favourably by employers in the travel industry.

Skills and qualities needed

While everyone brings their own personality to the job, there are some basic qualities that all tour guides should possess:

•      Energy and enthusiasm are an absolute must - when the day's tour is done, a guide still needs to study commentary and confirm the next day's activities, so you will often need to operate on very little sleep.

•     A friendly personality is needed when interacting with clients, tour operators and the general public.

•     An insight into a wide range of cultures helps a guide negotiate all kinds of issues, not only in the place being visited, but also among the people on the tour.

•     Knowledge of emergency procedure and the ability to remain calm in a crisis will stand any tour guide in good stead. Your confidence as tour leader will filter down to the group.

•      The ability to handle any tricky questions that arise is a crucial component of the role. If you're stuck for an answer, you should be able to find the information and follow up.

Know the reality

Life as a tour guide often requires long spells away from home. Some find that busy times at work fall on holidays they would like to spend with loved ones. Burn-out is also a factor to consider but it does not mean the end of a career in travel. There are often openings for roles in product development and sales within the industry; experience as a guide will stand you in good stead for these.

Reading Passage 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 on pages 39-40.

Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River on the border between Ontario, Canada, and New York state, us,are one of North America's most famous spectacles.

A. The Falls are in two main parts, separated by Goat Island. The larger part, on the Canadian bank, is Horseshoe Falls; its height is 185 feet and the length of its curving crest line is about 2,200 feet. The American Falls, adjoining the right bank in the US, are 190 feet high and 1,060 feet wide. The water that runs over the falls comes from the Great Lakes. Ninety percent of the water goes over the Horseshoe Falls. Originally, as much as 5.5 billion gallons of water per hour went over the Falls and, from 1842 to 1905, the site of the Falls receded upstream at an average rate of about 5.5 feet per year. Today the amount is controlled by the Canadian and American governments to slow erosion.

B. The first known image of Niagara Falls is an engraving by an unidentified Dutch printmaker which was first published in 1697 in a book by Father Louis Hennepin, a priest accompanying a French expedition to America. Alongside the engraving, Hennepin provided a description of the Falls suggesting it to be over six hundred feet tall, and audible fifteen leagues away (a distance that could be the equivalent of a 15-hour walk). This turned out to be a wild exaggeration as the Falls in fact rise 170 feet. However, as the first European reporter to have seen the Falls, Hennepin's description is significant for the fact that it dominated the collective imagination of the Falls in the century to come.

C. In 1848, for the first time in recorded history, the falls ran dry. The river bed started drying quickly, leaving fish and turtles floundering. People came from miles around to explore the riverbed; they found things that had been hidden for years such as artefacts of the War of 1812. This phenomenon occurred due to strong westerly winds keeping water in Lake Erie, along with an ice jam that dammed the river near Buffalo, New York. Below the Falls, workers were able to head out onto the riverbed and clear away rocks which had been a navigation hazard to the steamboat, Maid of the Mist. It is estimated that the river stopped for 30-40 hours in total.

Later, in 1969, the US Army Corps of Engineers built a series of dams which brought the water flow over the American Falls to a small trickle. This was in order to enable a study of the rock formations at the crest of the Falls and see whether there was any way to remove the rock at the base of the American Falls. In the end, the engineers decided to let nature take its course.

D. Engineer Charles Ellet completed the first bridge across the Falls in 1948. Seven years later John Roebling oversaw construction of another suspension bridge, this one with two levels: one for carriages and the other for locomotive traffic, allowing the Grand Trunk Railway to connect from Canada to the USA. Before it was built, there was widespread doubt that a suspension bridge would be able to bear the weight of a locomotive; no bridge of this kind had ever done this. Roebling's bridge cost $450,000 and became one of the world's most famous bridges.

Another famous attraction in Niagara Falls is the steamboat, the Maid of the Mist. This boat made its maiden voyage in 1846 as a ferry, charging to transport people, cargo, and mail across the river. Before that, rowboats took people who needed to get across the Niagara river below the Falls. However, when Ellet's newly constructed bridge began to diminish its business in 1848, the Maid of the Mist concentrated on sightseeing and took visitors very close to the Horseshoe Falls. Severalboats have taken the title Maid of the Mist since then, and to this day, Maid of the Mist VI and Maid of the Mist VII operate and since 2013 have been leaving from the US side of the Falls only. At 74 ft and 80 ft respectively, these boats are able to carry 600 visitors a piece, right to the base of the Falls.

E. It is often asked why the water of the Niagara Falls seems to take on an aquamarine colour, which is especially intense on sunny days. The reason is that the oxygen and mineral rich waters provide a conducive environment for the growth of algae called diatoms. The bodies of diatoms behave like prisms, reflecting a sparkling aquamarine. Minerals also contribute to the water's colour; dissolved limestone, shale and sandstone form salts that tint the river, while clean and well-oxygenated water helps this effect show through.

The foam in the water at the base of the Falls is not a man-made phenomenon. It is actually calcium carbonate from the mist as it evaporates while going over the Falls. This mixes with decaying diatoms and other algae to produce the foam. Moving further downstream, it remixes with the water and disappears. While in the 1950s and 1960s there was scum from phosphates and other pollutants, this is not the case today.