Reading Test

World Heritage
by Linda Baxter

If you think about World Heritage Sites, you probably think of places associated with ancient art and culture, historical buildings and monuments. And of course, many of these are on the World Heritage List.
Remains of ancient cultures, like Cuzco in Peru, Angkor in Cambodia, or the famous rock city of Petra in Jordan. Or old city centres, such as Rome inItaly, or Sana'a in Yemen. Or places of artistic or cultural significance, like the Stonehenge stone circle in England, or the Tsodilo rock paintings in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. But The World Heritage List contains a lot of sites that are not so obvious. Some of them are well known. For example, the Galapagos Islands, which inspired Darwin's theories of evolution, or the Victoria Fallswaterfalls in Africa, and the Grand Canyon in the United States.
Let's look at a few of the more unusual sites on the World Heritage List and why it is important to preserve them.
Citadel of Haiti
These monuments were built at the end of the nineteenth century when Haiti became independent and the many thousands of black slaves in Haiti were free for the first time. These ex-slaves built themonuments, which The World Heritage List (WHL) describes as 'a universal symbol of liberty'.

Robben Island in South Africa
This island was used through the centuries as a prison, a hospital and a military base. But it's probably most famous as a maximum-security prison for political prisoners in the twentieth century. Nelson Mandela was one of its most famous residents. The WHL says it represents'the triumph of democracy and freedom over oppression and racism'.
Borders of France and Spain
This is an area of great natural beauty and the mountains have many interesting geological formations. But it is also an area of small farms. People there still use a type of agriculture that used to be common in mountainous areas of Europe but has almost completely disappeared in modern times. TheWHL has listed the site because it shows us about 'past European society through its landscape of villages, farms, fields, upland pastures and mountain roads.'

Choose the answer and answer the questions below, depending on the information in the text.

1. Why is the Citadel of Haiti included on the list?

a. It shows a traditional way of life.
b. It represents freedom.
c. Thebuildings are thousands of years old.

2. What is the most important reason for listing the area on the borders of France and Spain?

a. We can learn about the history of Europe.
b. The geology is interesting.
c. It's very beautiful.

3. What contains the World Heritage List?

4. Which places are mentioned in the second paragraph?

5. About which country is talking about in the fifthparagraph?

Rainforests rule!
by Claire Powell

A world like no other – perhaps this is the best way to describe the world of the rainforest. No rainforest is exactly the same – yet most rainforests are now distributed in the small land area 22.5 degrees north and 22.5 degrees south of the Equator, between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer. You can find tropical rainforests inSouth America and Indonesia. Other rainforests flourish further from the Equator, in Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Despite occupying a relatively small area, rainforests have a colossal role to play in maintaining the world as we know it. Tropical rainforests are home to a rich, colourful variety of medicinal plants, food, birds and animals. Can you believe that a single bush in the Amazon may have morespecies of ants than the whole of Britain! 480 varieties of trees may be found in just one hectare of rainforest. These forests sustain around 50% of all the species on Earth, and offer a way of life to many people living in and around the forest.
Rainforests are the lungs of the planet – storing vast quantities of carbon dioxide and producing a significant amount of the world’s oxygen....