The principles are the same as for True, False, Not Given as they are for Yes, No, Not Given questions. However, the key difference with this type of question is that it is used to analyse the claims or opinions of the writer of the text. In this case, you need to make sure that the opinions that are given are those of the writer and not opinions of others being reported by the writer.
Key Points:
1. Questions usually roughly follow the order of the text.
2. Questions repeat key words from the text, but sometimes paraphrasing is used so you must be on the lookout for this.
3. This type of question can usually be completed quite quickly if you can quickly locate the sentences that contain the answers. However, you must spend time to carefully compare the text against the question.
4. This type of question needs attention to the details. You must carefully read the whole question and the whole sentence with the answer in it.
5. There should be one clear location in the text that has the answer.
6. If you can’t find the information you are looking for, then it is probably not given. Don’t waste time looking for something that is not there.
7. If you have no idea what the answer is put not given. You probably have no idea because the answer is not there
Approach:
1. Skim the text within 3 minutes.
2. Read the first question and establish a keyword to search for.
3. Locate the keyword/synonym in the text.
4. Check the sentence with the keyword against the question to decide if it is true, false, or not given.
5. If the question contains a qualifier (all, many, most) you must check the qualifier used in the text as many answers are based on qualifiers.
6. Repeat this strategy with other questions and start looking where you did the last question as answers are roughly sequential.
7. If you are really unsure or can’t find an answer, mark it as ‘not given’ and go to the next question. Do not waste too much time on trying to answer a single question.
PRACTICE TASK
Coral Triangle
The Philippines is part of the so-called “coral triangle,” which spans eastern Indonesia, parts of Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands. It covers an area that is equivalent to half of the entire United States.
Although there are 1,000 marine protected areas (MPAs) within the country, only 20 percent are functioning, the update said. MPAs are carefully selected areas where human development and exploitation of natural resources are regulated to protect species and habitats.
In the Philippines, coral reefs are important economic assets, contributing more than US$1 billion annually to the economy.
“Many local, coastal communities do not understand or know what a coral reef actually is, how its ecosystem interacts with them, and why it is so important for their villages to preserve and conserve it,” Southeast Asian Centre of Excellence (SEA CoE) said in a statement.
Unknowingly, coral reefs – touted to be the tropical rainforest of the sea – attract a diverse array of organisms in the ocean. They provide a source of food and shelter for a large variety of species including fish, shellfish, fungi, sponges, sea anemones, sea urchins, turtles and snails.
A single reef can support as many as 3,000 species of marine life. As fishing grounds, they are thought to be 10 to 100 times as productive per unit area as the open sea. In the Philippines, an estimated 10-15 per cent of the total fisheries come from coral reefs.
Not only coral reefs serve as home to marine fish species, they also supply compounds for medicines. The Aids drug AZT is based on chemicals extracted from a reef sponge while more than half of all new cancer drug research focuses on marine organisms.
Unfortunately, these beautiful coral reefs are now at serious risk from degradation. According to scientists, 70 percent of the world’s coral reefs may be lost by 2050. In the Philippines, coral reefs have been slowly dying over the past 30 years.
The World Atlas of Coral Reefs, compiled by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), reported that 97 percent of reefs in the Philippines are under threat from destructive fishing techniques, including cyanide poisoning, over-fishing, or from deforestation and urbanization that result in harmful sediment spilling into the sea.
Last year, Reef Check, an international organization assessing the health of reefs in 82 countries, stated that only five percent of the country’s coral reefs are in “excellent condition.” These are the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in Palawan, Apo Island in Negros Oriental, Apo Reef in Puerto Galera, Mindoro, and Verde Island Passage off Batangas.
About 80-90 per cent of the incomes of small island communities come from fisheries. “Coral reef fish yields range from 20 to 25 metric tons per square kilometre per year for healthy reefs,” said Angel C. Alcala, former environment secretary.
Alcala is known for his work in Apo Island, one of the world-renowned community-run fish sanctuaries in the country. It even earned him the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award.
Rapid population growth and the increasing human pressure on coastal resources have also resulted in the massive degradation of the coral reefs. Robert Ginsburg, a specialist on coral reefs working with the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, said human beings have a lot to do with the rapid destruction of reefs. “In areas where people are using the reefs or where there is a large population, there are significant declines in coral reefs,” he pointed out.
“Life in the Philippines is never far from the sea,” wrote Joan Castro and Leona D’Agnes in a new report. “Every Filipino lives within 45 miles of the coast, and every day, more than 4,500 new residents are born.”
Estimates show that if the present rapid population growth and declining trend in fish production continue, only 10 kilograms of fish will be available per Filipino per year by 2010, as opposed to 28.5 kilograms per year in 2003.
Questions 1 – 5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
1 The natural resources in twenty percent of the marine protected areas are still exploited.
2 Coral reefs make better fishing areas than the open sea.
3 All of the coral reefs in the Philippines will be destroyed by 2050.
4 Humans are one reason why coral reefs are decreasing in size.
5 Available fish resources in the Philippines are expected to reduce by more than 50% over a
period of seven years.
ANSWERS
1. NO 2. YES 3. NOT GIVEN 4. YES 5. YES