Question

Fill in the blanks with the best alternative among the four options:

Around the world, forests are being destroyed at a rate of about thirteen million hectares a year and deforestation accounts for an estimated 17% -20% of all global emissions. In addition, forests and other terrestrial carbon sinks play a ___(1)___ role in preventing runaway climate change, soaking up a full 2.6 Gt of atmospheric carbon every year. The destruction of forests, therefore, not only emits carbon -a staggering 1.6 Gt a year, which severely ___(2)___ forests' capacity to absorb emissions from other sources-but also drastically ___(3)___ the amount of forested land available to act as carbon on a sink in the future. However, the effects of deforestation extend beyond carbon. Rainforests ____(4)___ a wide variety of ecosystems services, from regulating rainfall to purifying groundwater and keeping fertile soil from ____(5)____; deforestation in one area can seriously damage food production and ____(6)____ to clean water in an entire region. The value of global ecosystem services has been estimated at 33 trillion USD each year (almost half of global GDP), but these services have been taken for granted without a mechanism to make the market reflect their value. Rain forests are also a home and _____(7)____ of income for a huge number of people in Africa, Asia, and South America. ___(8)____ this, economic pressures frequently drive both local communities and national governments in the developing world to ____(9)____ these forests in ways that are unsustainable, clear-cutting vast areas for fuel, timber, mining, or agricultural land.

1.
(a) tough
(b) Important
(c) vital
(d) biggest

2.
(a) affect
(b) diminish
(c) increases
(d) impairs

3.
(a) plagues
(b) develops
(c) reduces
(d) shortens

4.
(a) sell
(b) offer
(c) give
(d) provide

5.
(a) transforming
(b) decoding
c) erupting
(d) eroding

6.
(a) handiness
(b) excess
(c) availability
(d) access

7.
(a) beginning
(b) source
(c) ways
(d) reference

8.
(a) despite
(b) also
(c) in spite
(d) apart

9.
(a) exploit
(b) encompass
(c) nurture
(d) work

Answer 1

Around the world, forests are being destroyed at a rate of about thirteen million hectares a year and deforestation accounts for an estimated 17% -20% of all global emissions. In addition, forests and other terrestrial carbon sinks play a vital role in preventing runaway climate change, soaking up a full 2.6 Gt of atmospheric carbon every year. The destruction of forests, therefore, not only emits carbon -a staggering 1.6 Gt a year, which severely impairs forests' capacity to absorb emissions from other sources-but also drastically reduces the amount of forested land available to act as carbon on a sink in the future. However, the effects of deforestation extend beyond carbon. Rainforests offer a wide variety of ecosystems services, from regulating rainfall to purifying groundwater and keeping fertile soil from eroding; deforestation in one area can seriously damage food production and access to clean water in an entire region. The value of global ecosystem services has been estimated at 33 trillion USD each year (almost half of global GDP), but these services have been taken for granted without a mechanism to make the market reflect their value. Rain forests are also a home and source of income for a huge number of people in Africa, Asia, and South America. despite this, economic pressures frequently drive both local communities and national governments in the developing world to exploit these forests in ways that are unsustainable, clear-cutting vast areas for fuel, timber, mining, or agricultural land.