Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 27 to 32.

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) has driven big tech share prices to fresh highs. However, this progress carries environmental consequences. The energy requirements of AI technology pose a significant threat to the climate objectives of the tech sector. Data centers, which play a vital role in developing and operating AI models, consume substantial amounts of electricity and contribute to CO₂ emissions.

According to the International Energy Agency, electricity consumption from data centres could double by 2026, equal to Japan’s current energy demand. According to a study by research company SemiAnalysis, AI could lead to data centres consuming 4.5% of the global energy generation by 2030. Water usage is also a matter of concern, as estimates indicate that AI could lead to the use of up to 6.6 billion cubic meters of water by 2027.

Experts emphasize the significance of considering the carbon footprint of the energy sources used by tech companies when evaluating the environmental impact of AI. Although efforts are underway to reduce the energy consumption of AI systems, there is still a substantial reliance on energy-intensive processes for training AI models.

The primary challenge lies in finding ways to reduce the environmental impact of AI while continuing to pursue technological progress. Balancing the insatiable energy demands of the AI arms race with the need to mitigate climate change is a pressing issue that the tech industry must address.

(Adapted from https://datacentremagazine.com)

Question 27: What is the passage mainly about?

   A. The recent surge in the stock market of big tech companies.

   B. The climate challenges are owing to the rapid development of AI.

   C. The development of data centres for AI model training.

   D. The water consumption challenges faced by the tech industry.

Question 28: The word “vital” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to __________ .

   A. crucial                       B. requisite                       C. fundamental                    D. necessary

Question 29: According to paragraph 2, why are data centres a threat to the climate objectives of the tech sector?

   A. Their reliance on expensive and unreliable energy sources.

   B. Their excessive energy use contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

   C. Their rapidly growing water consumption outpaces innovation.

   D. Their immense electricity consumption for operation is substantial.

Question 30: Which of the following is NOT true, according to the passage?

   A. The escalating power requirements of AI development pose a significant environmental dilemma.

   B. The tech industry is actively seeking methods to lower the environmental impact of AI.

   C. There is a trade-off between developing AI and minimizing the industry’s environmental footprint.

   D. By 2030, AI-powered data centres could account for nearly half of all global energy consumption.

Question 31: The word “mitigate” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to __________ .

   A. aggravate                  B. accelerate                     C. decelerate                       D. alleviate

Question 32: How many of the following statements can be inferred from the passage as INCORRECT?

   a) The rapid growth of AI has had a positive impact on the environment.

   b) The International Energy Agency predicts data centre energy consumption will remain flat by 2026.

   c) The use of AI could lead to a substantial increase in water consumption.

   d) The tech industry faces a challenge in balancing progress with environmental responsibility.

   e) Efforts are being made to reduce dependence on energy-intensive processes.

           A. 1.                                    B. 2.                                  C. 3.                                   D. 4.

E. Write the verbs in brackets in the correct form in each gap to make hypothetical situations.
1. Supposing you ……………………. (have) the chance to spend a year in space, would you take it?
2. Suppose all your friends ……………………. (say) bad things about you behind your back and you found out. What would you do?
3. Dave talks as though he ………………….. (grow up) in the US, but he actually only moved here three months ago.
4. Imagine you ………………….. (live) when the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. How would your life have been different?
5. It's amazing how Jenny acts as though she and Darren ……………………. (not have) serious problems at the moment.
6. Imagine we ……………………. (just / tell) that a huge meteor was on its way to Earth. What would be the best thing to do?
7. What if you ……………………. (give) three wishes by a genie in a bottle? What would you wish for?
8. It was scary! At one point, it felt like we ……………….….. (never / go) to get out of that jungle alive.
9. I do realise it will probably never happen but imagine her song ……………………. (become) really popular!
10. Don't you think Maria sometimes looks as if she ………………….. (wish) she had been born in another century?

Read four commentaries on the subject of living in London. For questions 1 – 4, choose from the commentaries A – D. The commentaries may be chosen more than once.

                                                                                                LONDON

A. Bridget Atkins
London is a harsh city. A quick walk from the steel and glass money temples of the financial district to one of the rundown estates fifteen minutes away shows you most of what you need to know about its harshness and problems. Depressing as that walk may be, I would still recommend it more than struggling through the public transport network. It isn't just that the trains are overcrowded, overheated and unreliable it's that you have to pay such an insulting amount for the privilege of travelling in such misery. Talking about contempt, I haven't even gotten to landlords, rent, and the fact that a shoebox in London will cost you more than a palace outside London. That's not to say it's all bad though. I do rejoice in the internationalism of my city, and the way I learn so much about different cultures and cuisines just by attending a local street party.

B. Tim Christie
London is an endlessly inventive city. We have happily embraced using both the London Underground and Overground, cycling and walking, and finding one-bed flats further away from the centre. Until now, the trend has been to move further out to find a place to live, but it doesn't need to be like that. Some of the most fascinating work currently happening in London revolves around the politics of scarcity. We need to release spare space, as well as investigate new models for flexible living and co-housing. People talk about disparities between the haves and the have-nots, but I would say there is no other place in the world where it's better to be an entrepreneur. You don't have to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth to make it here, and that's what I see people who are in the process of making it or who already have just in different places on a kaleidoscopic spectrum.

C. Anna Fry
Aside from the fact that most people can no longer afford to live here, there also seems to be a sad conformity among those who do. The big beard, tight-trousered, hipster phenomenon, for instance, is essentially tribal and conservative. I do love the eclectic transport system though. You can make your way across the city by a multitude of transport modes; the whole city is pretty much anti-car. Even if you're happy to pay the congestion charge, you still have to drive around in circles looking for a place to park. Get it wrong and there will be one of London's finest parking attendants there to remind you with the much-despised penalty charge notice. But I'm all in favour of that. We all have to breathe the air no matter if we're rich or poor, and that's what I love about the whole system. It's a great equaliser. Take it or leave it.

D. Jon Bennett
I don't get the fascination with London's decrepit housing stock. It's overpriced and falling to pieces. All this talk of old-world charm, character and conservation areas, for what is essentially a totally dysfunctional stock of properties not fit for modern-day living. Unless you're a multi-millionaire that is, with money to burn on heating, only for it to go straight out the hundred-year-old windows. Because that's who's drawn here unless we're talking about the run-down, gritty areas that attract outsiders from all walks of life. Were it not for them, this would be a dull place to live. I love the way they colonise an area with pop-ups, cafés and art spaces until they are priced out. The system seems to favour those living off their inheritance. Why else would you need to pay such a ridiculous sum just to get from A to B on a late-running, museum-piece transport system?

Which commentator: