HW Reading 1

1 A. Every April, along with many other species of birds, the swallow arrives to spend the summer months in northern Europe, in Russia, Iran, and parts of Siberia. Here it will breed and raise its young.

2 B. The swallow is well known throughout its range for several reasons. Firstly, it is very distinctive, with its forked tail and characteristic acrobatic swooping flight. Secondly, it is very common, and, like its near relative the house martin, lives in close proximity to human habitation, at least in rural areas. It is, however, rarely to be encountered in towns or cities.

3 C. For centuries, people have observed swallows, noted their arrival and their 10 patterns of feeding. In several countries, these observations have passed into the language as proverbs or sayings. In England, people comment on unpredictable late spring weather by saying, 'one swallow does not make a summer'. Similarly, if the swallows are flying low, this was held to predict rainy, even stormy weather. There may be some truth in this observation, though it is the insects the swallows feed on that seem to be more susceptible to the fall in barometric pressure that heralds a storm. Insects keep low in these conditions, and so do the swallows that hunt them. At the end of the summer season, when the swallows are about to leave, they frequently flock together in large numbers on convenient high open perches, like roof ridges and telegraph wires. When people remark that "the swallows are gathering', they mean that autumn has arrived.

4 D. At some point in mid-September the swallows leave together, usually all on the same day. One day there are thousands, the next there are none, and none will be seen again until the following spring. For centuries, this was a complete mystery to people. The Hampshire naturalist Gilbert White, writing in the late eighteenth century, believed that the swallows dived into ponds and rivers in autumn and remained in the bottom mud the whole winter, re-emerging the following spring. This idea seems extraordinary to us, but White was not a stupid man: many of his other observations of natural life were informed and accurate. In this case, however, he simply had no means of determining the truth and was forced to make a random guess. The idea that swallows migrate to central or southern Africa would have seemed as fanciful to him as his theory seems to us.

5 E. Although we now know that swallows migrate, there are still unanswered questions. Why do they go so far? Why not stay on the shores of the Mediterranean? The majority continue to equatorial Africa, and some even further south. Also it appears that populations of swallows that have bred in different countries also spend the winter in different areas. Those from France, Germany, and much of western Europe have mostly been traced to East Africa, Kenya, or Tanzania for example. Above all, how does a bird weighing approximately twenty grammes find its way across mountain ranges, ocean, and desert to winter in the south, and then return the following year to the very location it was born, in some cases to the very same nest?

6 F. Birds can navigate by the sun, and are also able to detect the magnetic field of the earth. Species that migrate at night are also able to navigate by the stars. By these means, they travel long distances. The close navigation that brings them back to the same field or nest appears to be related to memory of local landmarks imprinted on the minds of young birds as they criss- cross the area in the weeks before departure.

7 G. Nevertheless, the journey is very dangerous. Long sea crossings, where there is little available food or water, are generally avoided. In western Europe, most swallows cross to Africa via the Straits of Gibraltar, or fly the length of Italy before tackling the relatively short crossing to Tunisia in North Africa. However, in storms they may be blown hundreds of kilometres off course. Exhausted swallows sometimes come to rest on ships way out in the Atlantic Ocean. They have to cross mountain ranges too, where again the weather may be unpredictable and food scarce.

8 H. Along the coast of North Africa, many young swallows become the prey 60 of Eleonora's falcons, which time their breeding to coincide with the migration of young birds southwards. But the most dangerous part of the journey is the crossing of the Sahara desert. Here, there is little food or water, sandstorms may delay and exhaust the already weakened birds, and many die. It is estimated that around 50 per cent of adult birds die, and up to 80 per cent of young birds, but enough survive to ensure the continuation of the species.

1 A. At 11.39 p.m. on the evening of Sunday 14 April 1912, lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee on the forward mast of the Titanic sighted an eerie, black mass coming into view directly in front of the ship. Fleet picked up the phone to the helm, waited for Sixth Officer Moody to answer, and yelled "Iceberg, right ahead!" The greatest disaster in maritime history was about to be set in motion.

2 B. Thirty-seven seconds later, despite the efforts of officers in the bridge and engine room to steer around the iceberg, the Titanic struck a piece of submerged ice, bursting rivets in the ship's hull and flooding the first five watertight compartments. The ship's designer, Thomas Andrews, carried out a visual inspection of the ship's damage and informed Captain Smith at midnight that the ship would sink in less than two hours. By 12.30 a.m., the lifeboats were being filled with women and children, after Smith had given the command for them to be uncovered and swung out 15 minutes earlier. The first lifeboat was successfully lowered 15 minutes later, with only 28 of its 65 seats occupied. By 1.15 a.m., the waterline was beginning to reach the Titanic's name on the ship's bow, and over the next hour every lifeboat would be released as officers struggled to maintain order amongst the growing panic on board.

3 C. The closing moments of the Titanic's sinking began shortly after 2 a.m., as the last lifeboat was lowered and the ship's propellers lifted out of the water, leaving the 1,500 passengers still on board to surge towards the stern. At 2.17 a.m., Harold Bride and Jack Philips tapped out their last wireless message after being relieved of duty as the ship's wireless operators, and the ship's band stopped playing. Less than a minute later,

4 D. occupants of the lifeboats witnessed the ship's lights flash once, then go black, and a huge roar signalled the Titanic's contents plunging towards the bow, causing the front half of the ship to break off and go under. The Titanic's stern bobbed up momentarily, and at 2.20 a.m., the ship finally disappeared beneath the frigid waters.

5 E. What or who was responsible for the scale of this catastrophe? Explanations abound, some that focus on very small details. Due to a last minute change in the ship's officer line-up, iceberg lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee were making do without a pair of binoculars that an officer transferred off the ship in Southampton had left in a cupboard onboard, unbeknownst to any of the ship's crew. Fleet, who survived the sinking, insisted at a subsequent inquiry that he could have identified the iceberg in time to avert disaster if he had been in possession of the binoculars.

6 F. Less than an hour before the Titanic struck the Iceberg, wireless operator Cyril Evans on the Californian, located just 20 miles to the north, tried to contact operator Jack Philips on the Titanic to warn him of pack ice in the area. "Shut up, shut up, you're jamming my signal", Philips replied. "I'm busy." The Titanic's wireless system had broken down for several hours earlier that day, and Philips was clearing a backlog of personal messages that passengers had requested to be sent to family and friends in the USA. Nevertheless, Captain Smith had maintained the ship's speed of 22 knots despite multiple earlier warnings of ice ahead. It has been suggested that Smith was under pressure to make headlines by arriving early in New York, but maritime historians such as Richard Howell have countered this perception, noting that Smith was simply following common procedure at the time, and not behaving recklessly.

7 G. One of the strongest explanations for the severe loss of life has been the fact that the Titanic did not carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board. Maritime regulations at the time tied lifeboat capacity to ship size, not to the number of passengers on board. This meant that the Titanic, with room for 1,178 of its 2,222 passengers, actually surpassed the Board of Trade's requirement that it carry lifeboats for 1,060 of its passengers. Nevertheless, with lifeboats being lowered less than half full in many cases, and only 712 passengers surviving despite a two and a half hour window of opportunity, more lifeboats would not have guaranteed more survivors in the absence of better training and preparation. Many passengers were confused about where to go after the order to launch lifeboats was given; a lifeboat drill scheduled for earlier on the same day that the Titanic struck the iceberg was cancelled by Captain Smith, in order to allow passengers to attend church.

1 A. Cork - the thick bark of the cork oak tree (Quercus suber) - is a remarkable material. It is tough, elastic, buoyant, and fire-resistant, and suitable for a wide range of purposes. It has also been used for millennia: the ancient Egyptians sealed their sarcophagi (stone coffins) with cork, while the ancient Greeks and Romans used it for anything from beehives to sandals.

2 B. And the cork oak itself is an extraordinary tree. Its bark grows up to 20 cm in thickness, insulating the tree like a coat wrapped around the trunk and branches and keeping the inside at a constant 20°C all year round. Developed most probably as a defence against forest fires, the bark of the cork oak has a particular cellular structure - with about 40 million cells per cubic centimetre - that technology has never succeeded in replicating. The cells are filled with air, which is why cork is so buoyant. It also has an elasticity that means you can squash it and watch it spring back to its original size and shape when you release the pressure.

3 C. Cork oaks grow in a number of Mediterranean countries, including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Morocco. They flourish in warm, sunny climates where there is a minimum of 400 millimetres of rain per year, and not more than 800 millimetres. Like grape vines, the trees thrive in poor soil, putting down deep boots in search of moisture and nutrients. Southern Portugal's Alentejo region meets all of these requirements, which explains why, by the early 20th century, this region had become the world's largest producer of cork, and why today it accounts for roughly half of all cork production around the world.

4 D. Most cork forests are family-owned. Many of these family businesses, and indeed many of the trees themselves, are around 200 years old. Cork production is, above all, an exercise in patience. From the planting of a cork sapling to the first harvest takes 25 years, and a gap of approximately a decade must separate harvests from an individual tree. And for top-quality cork, it's necessary to wait a further 15 or 20 years. You even have to wait for the right kind of summer's day to harvest cork. If the bark is stripped on a day when it's too cold - or when the air is damp - the tree will be damaged.

5 E. Cork harvesting is a very specialised profession. No mechanical means of stripping cork bark has been invented, so the job is done by teams of highly skilled workers. First, they make vertical cuts down the bark using small sharp axes, then lever it away in pieces as large as they can manage. The most skilful cork- strippers prise away a semi-circular husk that runs the length of the trunk from just above ground level to the first branches. It is then dried on the ground for about four months, before being taken to factories, where it is boiled to kill any insects that might remain in the cork. Over 60% of cork then goes on to be made into traditional bottle stoppers, with most of the remainder being used in the construction trade. Corkboard and cork tiles are ideal for thermal and acoustic insulation, while granules of cork are used in the manufacture of concrete.

6 F. Recent years have seen the end of the virtual monopoly of cork as the material for bottle stoppers, due to concerns about the effect it may have on the contents of the bottle. This is caused by a chemical compound called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), which forms through the interaction of plant phenols, chlorine and mould. The tiniest concentrations - as little as three or four parts to a trillion - can spoil the taste of the product contained in the bottle. The result has been a gradual yet steady move first towards plastic stoppers and, more recently, to aluminium screw caps. These substitutes are cheaper to manufacture and, in the case of screw caps, more convenient for the user.

7 G. The classic cork stopper does have several advantages, however. Firstly, its traditional image is more in keeping with that of the type of high quality goods with which it has long been associated. Secondly - and very importantly - cork is a sustainable product that can be recycled without difficulty. Moreover, cork forests are a resource which support local biodiversity and prevent desertification in the regions where they are planted. So, given the current concerns about environmental issues, the future of this ancient material once again looks promising.