TES POTENSI AKADEMIK BAHASA INGGRIS POLRI

It is common knowledge that as women get older, pregnancy becomes a riskier enterprise. Advanced maternal age is linked to a number of developmental disorders in children, such as Down’s syndrome. Now, a study has confirmed that older mothers are more likely to give birth to a child with autism, too. The authors of the epidemiological study, published February 8 in Autism Research, examined the parental age of more than 12,000 children with autism and nearly five million “control” children between 1990 and 1999, all living in California. The researchers found that mothers over 40 had a 51 percent higher risk of having a child with autism than mothers 25 to 29, and a 77 percent higher risk than mothers under 25.

Autism–a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication– appears to be on the rise. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates that as many as one in 110 children in the U.S. has an autistic spectrum disorder–a group of developmental disorders including autism, Asperger’s syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder. The prevalence of autistic spectrum disorders in California in 2007 was 12 times that from 1987, representing an average annual growth of 13 percent, according to a report from the California Department of Developmental Services. Only a fraction of these extra cases can be explained by changes to diagnostic criteria and earlier diagnoses.

Maternal age is also increasing in the U.S.A California-based study reported a three-fold increase in the number of births to women aged 40 to 44 between 1982 and 2004. But this trend toward delayed childbearing accounted for less than 5 percent of the total increase in autism diagnoses in California over the decade, according to the study–a finding that surprised Janie Shelton, a doctoral student in University of California, Davis’s Department of Public Health Sciences and the study’s lead author. “I would have expected to see more of a contribution, because age is a risk factor and women are having kids later,” she says. Earlier work had suggested that both maternal and paternal ages are independently associated with autism risk. But the current study found that paternal age is only a risk factor when the mother is under 30.

In the text the writer deals with a topic on ____.

• Prevalence of autism among children

• Possible biological cause of autism

• Research findings on mental disorders

• Maternal age and autism in children

• Negative effects of delayed pregnancy

It is common knowledge that as women get older, pregnancy becomes a riskier enterprise. Advanced maternal age is linked to a number of developmental disorders in children, such as Down’s syndrome. Now, a study has confirmed that older mothers are more likely to give birth to a child with autism, too. The authors of the epidemiological study, published February 8 in Autism Research, examined the parental age of more than 12,000 children with autism and nearly five million “control” children between 1990 and 1999, all living in California. The researchers found that mothers over 40 had a 51 percent higher risk of having a child with autism than mothers 25 to 29, and a 77 percent higher risk than mothers under 25.

Autism–a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication– appears to be on the rise. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates that as many as one in 110 children in the U.S. has an autistic spectrum disorder–a group of developmental disorders including autism, Asperger’s syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder. The prevalence of autistic spectrum disorders in California in 2007 was 12 times that from 1987, representing an average annual growth of 13 percent, according to a report from the California Department of Developmental Services. Only a fraction of these extra cases can be explained by changes to diagnostic criteria and earlier diagnoses.

 

Maternal age is also increasing in the U.S.A California-based study reported a three-fold increase in the number of births to women aged 40 to 44 between 1982 and 2004. But this trend toward delayed childbearing accounted for less than 5 percent of the total increase in autism diagnoses in California over the decade, according to the study–a finding that surprised Janie Shelton, a doctoral student in University of California, Davis’s Department of Public Health Sciences and the study’s lead author. “I would have expected to see more of a contribution, because age is a risk factor and women are having kids later,” she says. Earlier work had suggested that both maternal and paternal ages are independently associated with autism risk. But the current study found that paternal age is only a risk factor when the mother is under 30

Which of the following best describes the author’s purposes in this study?

• To reveal that the case of autism among children is prevalent

• To analyze how delayed pregnancy brings about autism

• To make the readers aware of the consequence of delayed pregnancy

• To refute a common misconception about the cause of autism

• To demonstrate that autism is associated with delayed pregnancy

It is common knowledge that as women get older, pregnancy becomes a riskier enterprise. Advanced maternal age is linked to a number of developmental disorders in children, such as Down’s syndrome. Now, a study has confirmed that older mothers are more likely to give birth to a child with autism, too. The authors of the epidemiological study, published February 8 in Autism Research, examined the parental age of more than 12,000 children with autism and nearly five million “control” children between 1990 and 1999, all living in California. The researchers found that mothers over 40 had a 51 percent higher risk of having a child with autism than mothers 25 to 29, and a 77 percent higher risk than mothers under 25.

 

Autism–a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication– appears to be on the rise. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates that as many as one in 110 children in the U.S. has an autistic spectrum disorder–a group of developmental disorders including autism, Asperger’s syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder. The prevalence of autistic spectrum disorders in California in 2007 was 12 times that from 1987, representing an average annual growth of 13 percent, according to a report from the California Department of Developmental Services. Only a fraction of these extra cases can be explained by changes to diagnostic criteria and earlier diagnoses.

 

Maternal age is also increasing in the U.S.A California-based study reported a three-fold increase in the number of births to women aged 40 to 44 between 1982 and 2004. But this trend toward delayed childbearing accounted for less than 5 percent of the total increase in autism diagnoses in California over the decade, according to the study–a finding that surprised Janie Shelton, a doctoral student in University of California, Davis’s Department of Public Health Sciences and the study’s lead author. “I would have expected to see more of a contribution, because age is a risk factor and women are having kids later,” she says. Earlier work had suggested that both maternal and paternal ages are independently associated with autism risk. But the current study found that paternal age is only a risk factor when the mother is under 30

From the information in the first paragraph and second paragraph, it can be inferred that ____.

• Developmental disorders in children are close to delayed pregnancy

• Modified diagnosis criteria can detect many cases of autism

• Many of the children in the US obviously suffer from autism

• Asdperger’s syndrome is not related in any way to autism

• Studies on autism have not successfully revealed its causes

It is common knowledge that as women get older, pregnancy becomes a riskier enterprise. Advanced maternal age is linked to a number of developmental disorders in children, such as Down’s syndrome. Now, a study has confirmed that older mothers are more likely to give birth to a child with autism, too. The authors of the epidemiological study, published February 8 in Autism Research, examined the parental age of more than 12,000 children with autism and nearly five million “control” children between 1990 and 1999, all living in California. The researchers found that mothers over 40 had a 51 percent higher risk of having a child with autism than mothers 25 to 29, and a 77 percent higher risk than mothers under 25.

 

Autism–a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication– appears to be on the rise. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates that as many as one in 110 children in the U.S. has an autistic spectrum disorder–a group of developmental disorders including autism, Asperger’s syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder. The prevalence of autistic spectrum disorders in California in 2007 was 12 times that from 1987, representing an average annual growth of 13 percent, according to a report from the California Department of Developmental Services. Only a fraction of these extra cases can be explained by changes to diagnostic criteria and earlier diagnoses.

 

Maternal age is also increasing in the U.S.A California-based study reported a three-fold increase in the number of births to women aged 40 to 44 between 1982 and 2004. But this trend toward delayed childbearing accounted for less than 5 percent of the total increase in autism diagnoses in California over the decade, according to the study–a finding that surprised Janie Shelton, a doctoral student in University of California, Davis’s Department of Public Health Sciences and the study’s lead author. “I would have expected to see more of a contribution, because age is a risk factor and women are having kids later,” she says. Earlier work had suggested that both maternal and paternal ages are independently associated with autism risk. But the current study found that paternal age is only a risk factor when the mother is under 30

It can be concluded from the text that ____.

• A big age difference of parents of 40 years or beyond may result in autism

• Several mental disorders can be prevented by having kids earlier

• Woman today show a general trend in delaying pregnancy

• The paternal age only partly explains the case of mental disorders among children

• The case of autism among children remains a mystery among scientists

A renewable-energy “oasis” scheduled to be built more may serve as a proving ground for new technologies designed to bring green living to the desert. The planned research center is part of the Sahara Forest Project which doesn’t mean it’ll be built in Africa. The center is meant to be a small-scale version of massive green complexes that project managers hope to build in deserts around the globe.

 

Experts are now examining arid sites in Australia, the U.S., the Middle East, and Africa that could support the test facility. “The Sahara Forest Project is a holistic approach for creation of local jobs, food, water, and energy, utilizing relatively simple solutions mimicking design and principles from nature,” said Frederic Hauge. For instance, special greenhouses would use hot desert air and seawater make fresh water for growing crops, solar energy would be collected to generate power, and algae pools would offer a renewable and easily transportable fuel supply. In addition, planting trees near the complex would trap atmospheric greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide while restoring any natural forest cover that has been lost to drought and timber harvesting. “From my perspective as an environmentalist, this could be a game changer in how we produce biomass for food and energy, and how we’re going to provide fresh water for the future,” Hauge said.

 

But not all experts are as enthusiastic about the project. In terms of the reforestation plans, “trying to grow trees in the Sahara desert is not the most appropriate approach,” said a forest ecologist of the University of California. After all, even though it was literally green in the past, the Sahara was never heavily forested

It is clear from the passage that the author’s purposes of writing the passage is to ____.

• Demonstrate the reforesting of deserts into oases

• Expose research to change deserts into green living

• Explain advances in green technology in deserts

• Describe an experiment to provide fresh water

• Show activities in the Sahara Forest Project

A renewable-energy “oasis” scheduled to be built more may serve as a proving ground for new technologies designed to bring green living to the desert. The planned research center is part of the Sahara Forest Project which doesn’t mean it’ll be built in Africa. The center is meant to be a small-scale version of massive green complexes that project managers hope to build in deserts around the globe.

 

Experts are now examining arid sites in Australia, the U.S., the Middle East, and Africa that could support the test facility. “The Sahara Forest Project is a holistic approach for creation of local jobs, food, water, and energy, utilizing relatively simple solutions mimicking design and principles from nature,” said Frederic Hauge. For instance, special greenhouses would use hot desert air and seawater make fresh water for growing crops, solar energy would be collected to generate power, and algae pools would offer a renewable and easily transportable fuel supply. In addition, planting trees near the complex would trap atmospheric greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide while restoring any natural forest cover that has been lost to drought and timber harvesting. “From my perspective as an environmentalist, this could be a game changer in how we produce biomass for food and energy, and how we’re going to provide fresh water for the future,” Hauge said.

 

But not all experts are as enthusiastic about the project. In terms of the reforestation plans, “trying to grow trees in the Sahara desert is not the most appropriate approach,” said a forest ecologist of the University of California. After all, even though it was literally green in the past, the Sahara was never heavily forested

Which of the following is relevant with the idea of “a small-scale version” (paragraph 1) described in the passage?

• Anna focuses his research on the physical aspects of the templeV

• Bill examines the relationship between physical fitness and learning

• Grade XII students work in groups in the biology laboratory

• Danny studies the chance of growing an apple with little water in a pot

• The project surveys the number of cars passing by the bridge in a day

A renewable-energy “oasis” scheduled to be built more may serve as a proving ground for new technologies designed to bring green living to the desert. The planned research center is part of the Sahara Forest Project which doesn’t mean it’ll be built in Africa. The center is meant to be a small-scale version of massive green complexes that project managers hope to build in deserts around the globe.

 

Experts are now examining arid sites in Australia, the U.S., the Middle East, and Africa that could support the test facility. “The Sahara Forest Project is a holistic approach for creation of local jobs, food, water, and energy, utilizing relatively simple solutions mimicking design and principles from nature,” said Frederic Hauge. For instance, special greenhouses would use hot desert air and seawater make fresh water for growing crops, solar energy would be collected to generate power, and algae pools would offer a renewable and easily transportable fuel supply. In addition, planting trees near the complex would trap atmospheric greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide while restoring any natural forest cover that has been lost to drought and timber harvesting. “From my perspective as an environmentalist, this could be a game changer in how we produce biomass for food and energy, and how we’re going to provide fresh water for the future,” Hauge said.

 

But not all experts are as enthusiastic about the project. In terms of the reforestation plans, “trying to grow trees in the Sahara desert is not the most appropriate approach,” said a forest ecologist of the University of California. After all, even though it was literally green in the past, the Sahara was never heavily forested

Unlike the information in paragraph 3, paragraph 2 in the passage contains information on ____.

• Predictive studies

• Opposite outlooks

• Optimistic views

• Positive opinions

• Strong refusals

A renewable-energy “oasis” scheduled to be built more may serve as a proving ground for new technologies designed to bring green living to the desert. The planned research center is part of the Sahara Forest Project which doesn’t mean it’ll be built in Africa. The center is meant to be a small-scale version of massive green complexes that project managers hope to build in deserts around the globe.

 

Experts are now examining arid sites in Australia, the U.S., the Middle East, and Africa that could support the test facility. “The Sahara Forest Project is a holistic approach for creation of local jobs, food, water, and energy, utilizing relatively simple solutions mimicking design and principles from nature,” said Frederic Hauge. For instance, special greenhouses would use hot desert air and seawater make fresh water for growing crops, solar energy would be collected to generate power, and algae pools would offer a renewable and easily transportable fuel supply. In addition, planting trees near the complex would trap atmospheric greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide while restoring any natural forest cover that has been lost to drought and timber harvesting. “From my perspective as an environmentalist, this could be a game changer in how we produce biomass for food and energy, and how we’re going to provide fresh water for the future,” Hauge said.

 

But not all experts are as enthusiastic about the project. In terms of the reforestation plans, “trying to grow trees in the Sahara desert is not the most appropriate approach,” said a forest ecologist of the University of California. After all, even though it was literally green in the past, the Sahara was never heavily forested

Obviously the author views that the experts’ estimation of success on the project mentioned in the passage is ____.

• Undeniable

• Inaccurate

• Uncertain

• Mistaken

• Dissimilar

The coal, oil, and natural gas that drive the industrial world’s economy all contain carbon inhaled by plants hundreds of millions of years ago–carbon that now is returning to the atmosphere through smokestacks and exhaust pipes, joining emissions from forest burned to clear land in poorer countries. Carbon dioxide is foremost in an array of gases from human activity that increase the atmosphere’s ability to trap heat. (Methane from cattle, rice fields, and landfills, and the chlorofluorocarbons in some refrigerators and air conditioners are others). Few scientists doubt that this greenhouse warming of the atmosphere is already taking hold. Melting glaciers, earlier springs, and a steady rise in global average temperature are just some of its harbingers.

 

By rights it should be worse. Each year humanity dumps roughly 8 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere, 6.5 billion tons from fossil fuels and 1.5 billion from deforestation. But less than half that total, 3.2 billion tons, remains in the atmosphere to warm the planet. Where is the missing carbon? “It’s a really major mystery, if you think about it,” says Wofsy, an atmospheric scientist at Harvard University. His research site in the Harvard Forest is apparently not the only place where nature is breathing deep and helping save us from ourselves. Forests, grasslands, and the waters of the oceans must be acting as carbon sinks. They steal back roughly half of the carbon dioxide we emit, slowing its buildup in the atmosphere and delaying the effects on climate.

The points discussed in paragraph 2 of the passage clarify the ideas that ____.

• Pollutants severely damage forest and glaciers

• Nature has its own mechanism to getting rid of pollution

• Universities play important roles in saving our planet

• Why the atmosphere is still warm is unsolved mystery

• Greenhouse gases are essential indicators of climate change

The coal, oil, and natural gas that drive the industrial world’s economy all contain carbon inhaled by plants hundreds of millions of years ago–carbon that now is returning to the atmosphere through smokestacks and exhaust pipes, joining emissions from forest burned to clear land in poorer countries. Carbon dioxide is foremost in an array of gases from human activity that increase the atmosphere’s ability to trap heat. (Methane from cattle, rice fields, and landfills, and the chlorofluorocarbons in some refrigerators and air conditioners are others). Few scientists doubt that this greenhouse warming of the atmosphere is already taking hold. Melting glaciers, earlier springs, and a steady rise in global average temperature are just some of its harbingers.

 

By rights it should be worse. Each year humanity dumps roughly 8 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere, 6.5 billion tons from fossil fuels and 1.5 billion from deforestation. But less than half that total, 3.2 billion tons, remains in the atmosphere to warm the planet. Where is the missing carbon? “It’s a really major mystery, if you think about it,” says Wofsy, an atmospheric scientist at Harvard University. His research site in the Harvard Forest is apparently not the only place where nature is breathing deep and helping save us from ourselves. Forests, grasslands, and the waters of the oceans must be acting as carbon sinks. They steal back roughly half of the carbon dioxide we emit, slowing its buildup in the atmosphere and delaying the effects on climate.

How are ideas in paragraph 1 and 2 related?

• Carbon dioxide and how the ocean serves a huge sink

• Industrialized countries and how they solve pollution issues

• Activities in poor countries and the number of pollutant they produce

• Greenhouse phenomenon and how research is conducted to deal with it

• Polluting substances in the atmosphere and how the nature absorbs them