ACA FLEX Reading 30-9

Jupiter: Jupiter has 2-1/2 times more mass as compared to all other planets put together. Besides, its diameter is 11 times more than Earth's diameter. Because of its size, the scientists were also forced into believing that it became a star. Gasses and dust contracted to build the planet and immense pressure was created by the gravitational forces along with tens of thousands of degrees of temperature. However, unlike the Sun, the unavailability of sufficient mass required to create the temperature which can initiate fusion reaction, Jupiter relatively got cooler over a period of time.

• AComparison of Jupiter's temperature with other planets.
• BSize of Jupiter compared to other planets.
• CJupiter's development as compared to Earth over a period.
• DJupiter's development as compared to Sun.

Sometimes too much of a good thing can become a very bad thing indeed. In an earnest attempt to consume a healthy diet, dietary supplement enthusiasts have been known to overdose. Vitamin C, for example, long thought to help people ward off cold viruses, is currently being studied for its possible role in warding off cancer and other diseases that cause tissue degeneration. Unfortunately, an overdose of vitamin C - more than 10,000 mg. - on a daily basis can cause nausea and diarrhea. Calcium supplements, commonly taken by women, are helpful in warding off osteoporosis. More than just a few grams a day, however, can lead to stomach upset and even kidney or bladder stones. Niacin, proven useful in reducing cholesterol levels, can be dangerous in large doses to those who suffer from heart problems, asthma, or ulcers.

• ASupplements taken in excess can be a bad thing indeed.
• BDietary supplement enthusiasts have been known to overdose.
• CVitamins can cause nausea, diarrhea, and kidney or bladder stones.
• DPeople who take supplements are preoccupied with their health.

In England it is well known that access to university, on average, varies substantially by the level of parental income and that students from poorer families access different types of universities than those from wealthier backgrounds. However, the question of whether graduates' earnings vary ________ (3) their socioeconomic background amongst graduates attending similar universities and taking the same subject has remained poorly understood, ________ (4) limited by data availability. Our unique administrative database offers substantial advantages in ________ (5) this crucial question. The findings are also relevant for myriad other issues that benefit from better information on variation in graduates' earnings, including student choice of subject and institution; better information for schools ________ (6) advise and guide students whilst at school; and the operation and cost of the higher education finance system.

"If you want to find unique ________ (7) and if you want to find a wide range of ________ (8) below-ground organisms, you don't have to travel around the world. You can walk across Central Park."That statement comes from Noah Fierer, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He's also a ________ (9) of a study that uncovered the surprisingly large diversity of subterranean microbial life at the 843-acre green rectangle in the heart of Manhattan. The research is in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Investigators looked at 596 ________ (10) soil samples from the park and found thousands of different types of ________ (11). They also compared those microbes with those living in 52 other soil samples taken from all around the planet. The park had organisms that also exist in deserts, frozen tundra, forests, ________ (12) and prairies. Antarctica was the only area that had microbes that did not overlap with those found in Central Park. And only a small percentage of the park's microbes were found to be already listed in databases. The variety of microbes probably reflects a diversity of soil conditions within the park. Seems that New York is a melting pot for people above the surface. And for microbes beneath it.

One of the Supreme Court's most important ________ (13) is to decide cases that raise questions of constitutional interpretation. The Court decides if a law or government ________ (14) violates the Constitution. This is known as judicial review and enables the Court to invalidate both federal and state laws when they ________ (15) with the Constitution. Since the Supreme Court stands as the ultimate authority in constitutional interpretation, its decisions can be ________ (16) only by another Supreme Court decision or by a constitutional amendment.

Some of the most remarkable beetles are the dung beetles, which spend almost their whole lives eating and breeding in dung’. More than 4,000 species of these remarkable creatures have evolved and adapted to the world’s different climates and the dung of its many animals. Australia’s native dung beetles are scrub and woodland dwellers, specialising in coarse marsupial droppings and avoiding the soft cattle dung in which bush flies and buffalo flies breed. In the early 1960s George Bornemissza, then a scientist at the Australian Government’s premier research organisation, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), suggested that dung beetles should be introduced to Australia to control dung-breeding flies. Between 1968 and 1982, the CSIRO imported insects from about 50 different species of dung beetle, from Asia, Europe and Africa, aiming to match them to different climatic zones in Australia. Of the 26 species that are known to have become successfully integrated into the local environment, only one, an African species released in northern Australia, has reached its natural boundary. Introducing dung beetles into a pasture is a simple process: approximately 1,500 beetles are released, a handful at a time, into fresh cow pats in the cow pasture. The beetles immediately disappear beneath the pats digging and tunnelling and, if they successfully adapt to their new environment, soon become a permanent, self-sustaining part of the local ecology. In time they multiply and within three or four years the benefits to the pasture are obvious.

• ABush flies are easier to control than buffalo flies.
• BFour thousand species of dung beetle were initially brought to Australia by the CSIRO.
• CDung beetles were brought to Australia by the CSIRO over a fourteen-year period.
• DAt least twenty-six of the introduced species have become established in Australia.
• EThe dung beetles caused an immediate improvement to the quality of a cow pasture.

It is necessary to have a standard of education. We can set two sorts of standards there. First, a minimum standard below which no one is allowed to fall, in the shape of so many years of elementary education in such and such subjects. And secondly, and in a way even more important, a standard of equal opportunity for all, to ensure that no boy or girl is deprived of the chance of climbing to the top of the educational ladder through poverty or the accidents of birth. There are also standards of economic security. During the recent past, the sense of insecurity has been the single greatest cause, both of individual anxiety and frustration, and of social instability and unrest. A state must see to it that it gives to all its citizens minimum standards of security against ill health, against unemployment, against widowhood, against old age. Issues of social security are, therefore, interlinked, irrespective of whether they are in the field of basic education, basic health, employment or even protection against economic needs arising out of old age, disability etc. The state expenditure on social security is bound to fall upon the shoulders of the society at large. A society that cannot take due care of such basic needs of each and every of its members is not fit to be called in the true sense of the term.

• AEquality of opportunity is a cornerstone of the standard of education.
• BThe state is obligated to cater to the basic needs of its citizens.
• CA socially insecure person depends on the state to find a secure job.
• DIt is not possible to take the issues of health and education in isolation.
• EEvery citizen has an inherent right to climb to the top of the educational ladder.

Until widespread clearing of land began after 1861, the Tweed Valley, from the beach dunes to the mountains, was covered by dense wetland forests and rainforest. The rainforest had plenty of red cedar, which grew along the river banks and over the floodplains and foothills. Some of these trees were huge, up to sixty metres tall and as much as two thousand years old. Cedar was highly valued for its light weight, rich pink to red colours and interesting grain patterns. The tall trees provided magnificent lengths for the mills. Much early Australian furniture was made from cedar. The timber of the Tweed Valley was felled close to the river banks and then was tied and floated downstream to the river mouth for shipping to the big cities. The river provided the only means of removing the timber, because the felled trees were so bulky. By the 1870s, the cedar industry was in decline. Land cleared for farming was on the increase and easily obtainable, and large cedar trees were becoming scarce. It was purely an extractive industry, which put nothing back. Given that many original trees were thousands of years old, it would have been hundreds of years before the plantings could have been harvested in any case.

• AMost of these trees were hundred years old.
• BThe timber was sought after for furniture making.
• CThe trees were easy to fell and remove.
• DThe timber was light in weight.
• EThe timber was prized for its colour and grain variations.

Bullying can take a variety of forms, from the verbal - being taunted or called hurtful names - to the physical - being kicked or shoved - as well as indirect forms, such as being excluded from social groups. A survey I conducted with Irene Whitney found that in British primary schools up to a quarter of pupils reported experience of bullying, which in about one in ten cases was persistent. There was less bullying in secondary schools, with about one in twenty-five suffering persistent bullying, but these cases may be particularly recalcitrant. Bullying is clearly unpleasant, and can make the child experiencing it feel unworthy and depressed. In extreme cases, it can even lead to suicide, though this is thankfully rare. Victimized pupils are more likely to experience difficulties with interpersonal relationships as adults, while children who persistently bully are more likely to grow up to be physically violent, and convicted of anti-social offences. Until recently, not much was known about the topic, and little help was available to teachers to deal with bullying. Perhaps as a consequence, schools would often deny the problem. ‘There is no bullying at this school’ has been a common refrain, almost certainly untrue. Fortunately, more schools are now saying: ‘There is not much bullying here, but when it occurs we have a clear policy for dealing with it.’

• AIn Britain, bullying was more prevalent in secondary schools than in primary schools
• BBullying has the potential to make a child feel unhappy
• CIn extreme cases bullying often leads to suicide
• DChildren who bully become criminals in the future
• ESchools admit that there is bullying there.