English Week 46 (2020)

English Week 46 (2020)

Gapped Text

Read an article about oil tankers during the Coronavirus pandemic. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from sentences A to G the one which fits each gap (1 to 6). There is one extra sentences which you do not need

The Covid-19 global pandemic has had a serious impact on the world economy. Giant ships stood unmoving off the California coast for weeks in April and May of 2020, their bellies full of up to 20 million barrels of oil. Unable to go anywhere to offload their fuel stock because of the extremely low trading prices, the ships were told to remain at sea. Meanwhile, in order to remain at sea, they were constantly burning fuel and producing more pollutants into the air and sea. 1 ( )

The demand for fuel fell sharply due to the coronavirus crisis at that time while oil kept getting pumped out of the ground. 2 ( ) "It's not normal to float this many barrels off the West Coast," says Reid Anson, a senior economist that specializes in energy trading.

"Reduced oil demand resulting from efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 has created a backlog in the supply chain for crude oil and refined products such as gasoline and jet fuel," Anson added. 3 ( ) A huge number of flights from China were barred from entering most countries worldwide as the virus was said to have begun in Wuhan, one of the largest cities in China.

4 ( ) That's more than twice the average from January to early March, four times the number from a year ago. Based on their analysis, every day, the tankers spent at sea just staying afloat saw the air pollutant index increase by 1/3 while the water pollution index increase by a quarter above the normal amount. 5 ( )

Exactly how much of this air pollution will end up on shore- and how much of an effect it will have on air quality and health in the long run- has yet to be determined. 6 ( ) Only then will they be able to work out how much of this pollution gets to people's doorsteps- and into their lungs. However, the general agreement is that the COVID-19 pandemic has had far reaching negatives effects not just to the economy but to the quality of life and our overall health status.

• (A) This resulted in an oversupply of fuel and a huge drop in prices.

• (B) This is because they need to first take into consideration wind patterns, rain and complicated chemistry calculations.

• (C) This was largely due to the crash in the tourism trade and many airlines cancelling flights during the global pandemic.

• (D) There is little doubt that climate change is adversely affected by man-made policies that seem to worsen conditions on a daily basis.

• (E) An excessive amount of fuel that was unsold would reduce the quality of the stock if they remained at sea much longer.

• (F) These toxic pollutants would spread widely to the local communities along the coast off California and add significant amounts of carbon dioxide to climate warming in the atmosphere.

• (G) In late April when the situation was at its worst, a total of 22 oil tankers and two chemical tankers sat off Southern California

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