Port One — IELTS Reading Answers

Manufacturers must sell cleaner cars.

“In Los Angeles, state regulations are forcing manufacturers to try to sell ever cleaner cars: the first of the cleanest, titled "Zero Emission Vehicles’, have to be available soon, since they are intended to make up 2 per cent of sales in 1997”

In Los Angeles, state regulations are forcing manufacturers to try to sell ever cleaner cars, with zero emission vehicles due soon.

Authorities want to have power to enforce anti-pollution laws.

“Local authorities in London are campaigning to be allowed to enforce anti-pollution laws themselves; at present only the police have the power to do so, but they tend to be busy elsewhere”

Local authorities in London are campaigning to be allowed to enforce anti-pollution laws themselves, since only the police have that power.

Drivers will be charged according to the roads they use.

“Singapore is advancing in this direction, with a city-wide network of transmitters to collect information and charge drivers as they pass certain points”

Singapore is advancing with a city-wide network of transmitters to collect information and charge drivers as they pass certain points.

Moving vehicles will be monitored for their exhaust emissions.

“As part of a European Union environmental programme, a London council is testing an infra-red spectrometer from the University of Denver in Colorado. It gauges the pollution from a passing vehicle - more useful than the annual stationary test that is the British standard today - by bouncing a beam through the exhaust...”

A London council is testing an infra-red spectrometer that gauges pollution from a passing vehicle by bouncing a beam through its exhaust.

Commuters are encouraged to share their vehicles with others.

“One solution is car-pooling, an arrangement in which a number of people who share the same destination share the use of one car. However, the average number of people in a car on the freeway in Los Angeles, which is 1.0, has been falling steadily”

Car-pooling is discussed alongside the Los Angeles freeway average of 1.0 person per car, showing commuters are encouraged to share vehicles.

According to British research, a mere twelve per cent of vehicles tested produced over fifty per cent of total pollution produced by the sample group.

“When Dritain’s Royal Automobile Club monitored the exhausts of 60,000 vehicles, it found that 12 per cent of them produced more than half the total pollution”

Britain's Royal Automobile Club monitored the exhausts of 60,000 vehicles and found 12 per cent produced more than half the total pollution.

It is currently possible to measure the pollution coming from individual vehicles whilst they are moving.

“It gauges the pollution from a passing vehicle - more useful than the annual stationary test that is the British standard today - by bouncing a beam through the exhaust and measuring what gets blocked”

The spectrometer gauges pollution from a passing vehicle by bouncing a beam through the exhaust, so moving vehicles can be measured.

Residents of Los Angeles are now tending to reduce the yearly distances they travel by car.

“but the total number of miles those cars drive continues to grow”

The text says the total number of miles those cars drive continues to grow, contradicting a reduction in yearly distances.

Car-pooling has steadily become more popular in Los Angeles in recent years.

“However, the average number of people in a car on the freeway in Los Angeles, which is 1.0, has been falling steadily”

The average number of people in a car on Los Angeles freeways, 1.0, has been falling steadily, so car-pooling is not becoming more popular.

Charging drivers for entering certain parts of the city has been successfully done in Cambridge, England.

“When the local government in Cambridge, England, considered introducing Singaporean techniques, it faced vocal and ultimately successful opposition”

Cambridge considered introducing Singaporean charging techniques but faced vocal and ultimately successful opposition, so the scheme was not done.

How many pollutants currently exceed WHO guidelines in all megacities studied?

1. Aonecorrect
2. Btwo
3. Cthree
4. Dseven

“In 1992, the United Nations Environmental Programme and the World Healrh Organisation (WHO) concluded that all of a sample of twenty megacities - places likely to have more than ten million inhabitants in the year 2000 - already exceeded the level the WHO deems healthy in at least one major pollutant”

The UN and WHO concluded all twenty megacities exceeded healthy levels in at least one major pollutant, so the answer is one.

Which pollutant is currently the subject of urgent research?

1. Anitrogen dioxide
2. Bozone
3. Clead
4. Dparticulate mattercorrect

“Of the six pollutants monitored by the WHO - carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide, lead and particulate matter - it is this last category that is attracting the most attention from health researchers.”

Of the six monitored pollutants, particulate matter is the category attracting most attention, with PM10 implicated in thousands of deaths.

Which of the following groups of people are the most severely affected by intense air pollution?

1. Aallergy sufferers
2. Bchildren
3. Cthe old and illcorrect
4. Dasthma sufferers

“The old and ill, however, are the most vulnerable to the acute effects of heavily polluted stagnant air”

The old and ill are described as the most vulnerable to the acute effects of heavily polluted stagnant air.