ZHAW Proficiency XII

More recently, would-be rain makers have used a more direct ____  that of throwing various chemicals out of aeroplanes in an effort to wring more rain from the clouds, a practice known as ‘cloud seeding’.

PROCEED
 

Yet such techniques, which were first developed in the 1940s, are ____ difficultto evaluate.

NOTORIETY
 

It is hard to ____, for example, how much rain would have fallen anyway.

CERTAIN

So, despite much anecdotal evidence of the advantages of cloud seeding, which has led to its adoption in more than 40 countries around the world, as far as scientists are concerned, results are still ____. That could be about to change.

CONCLUSIVE
 

For the past three years ____  have been carrying out the most extensive and ____  evaluation to date of a revolutionary new technique which will substantially boost the volume of ____.

RESEARCH, RIGOUR, RAIN
 

The preliminary ____  of their experiments indicate that solid evidence of the techniques effectiveness is now within the scientists’ grasp.

FIND
 

Until ____  recent times science and technology performed different and separate functions, the progress of one so often completely____  to the progress of the other.

COMPARE, RELATE
 

____ have established that, since the earliest times, the improvements in our way of life have resulted from an empirical approach, that is a process of trial and error, by which equipment and tools are made to satisfy important needs.

HISTORY
 

It is to this approach that we owe the evolution of technology. Our modern concept of science, both ____ and pragmatic in approach, stems from the seventeenth century, when extensive investigations into the natural laws governing the behaviour of matter were ____.

PHILOSOPHY, TAKE
 

It was this ____ style ofthought which led to a science-based technology.

REVOLUTION
 

Scientific knowledge was not in itself seen as a ____ forthe earliersystem of trial and error, but it did help the technical ____ to see which path of experimentation might be more ____.

PLACE, INNOVATE, FRUIT
 

With the industrialisation of the nineteenth century, the bond between science and technology ____.

STRONG
 

In our own time, the mutual ____  of one discipline upon the other has increased still further.

RELY
 

Human activity made its mark on land use and ____ in coastal regions of southern Europe long before the first ____  holidays arrived.

VEGETATE, PACK
 

By classical times, these areas had already seen extensive ____ by natural and human activity, and the process continues today.

ERODE

The hospitable climate of the area, long appreciated in literature as well as holiday brochures, produces seasonal variations in levels of soil ____ and consequently in plant growth.

MOIST
 

In an area where ____ occur frequently, there was a distinctive soil type at one time, with plants which had adapted to it. Nowadays though, this soil cover is no longer in ____ anywhere in the region.

DRY, EXIST
 

The early years of the 1980s were ____ dry and this exacerbated problems brought about by the ____ growth of industry in rural areas and the intensification of agriculture.

EXCEPT, SUBSTANCE

Pollution and insufficient water supplies have become problems to which the landscape is increasingly ____. The more recently this type of land has fallen out of use, the longer it takes for plant cover to reestablish itself.

SENSE
 

The European Union has set up a programme of ____  into land degradation in southern Europe, involving forty-four universities in the ____  of data which can be used to inform the policy decisions needed to deal with the issue.

SEARCH, GATHER
 

Rafflesia has been .......... to a fungus because it lacks chlorophyll and is incapable of phontosynthesis.

LIKE

Many ____ have been keen to discover why the flower is so large, so they recently conducted ____ analysis on the plant.

BOTANY, MOLECULE

This resulted in the ____ that it has evolved almost 80 times from its origin as a tiny bud to today's seven-kilo mega-bloom. REVEAL

Although this ____ transformation took tens of millions of years, such an evolutionary spurt is still one of the most dramatic size changes ever reported.

ORDINARY

Such growth rates in humans would be ____ to us being 146 metres tall today.

COMPARE

The plant is also unusual in another way. Its smell is extremely ____ but this
horrible .trait attracts such pollinators as flies.

PLEASE

It is thought that Rafflesia’s huge flower helps radiate the smell over long ____.

DISTANT

Extreme Weather is packed with facts about the great forces of nature
and is a ____ illustrated science book by the meteorologist, H. Michael Mogil.

BEAUTY

The aim of the book is to present enough knowledge to understand the many ____ of the debate about climate change.

COMPLEX

Mogil is alarmed about the way the public has been ____ on this issue, being pushed towards certain positions on climate change by the campaigning of ____ and the news media's need tor a good story.

LEAD, POLITICS

He wants to demonstrate that climate change is an ____ complicated issue, and that making overly simplistic ____ will inevitably ____ our understanding.

CREDIBLE, ASSUME, PAIR

He therefore ____ emphasises that weather records are short, often incomplete and tricky
to compare.

REPEAT

Mogil suggests that, in the distant past, changes in climate occurred in magnitudes far greater than in recent times. it is the ____ detail with which these recent events have been
recorded that differentiates them from the past.

FINITE

Many people will work from home, electric cars will be the typical form of transport, and goods and services paid for by mobile phone. The most advanced smart homes will be ____ friendly, equipped with their own ____  units which will be able to make ____ waste water completely safe and palatable.

ENVIRONS, CYCLE,  DRlNK

Advances in medical science will also have far-reaching ____; people born today can have a life ____ of 100 years.

SEQUENCE, EXPECT

The development of so-called smart medicine research suggests that people will carry out their own digital health checks, enabling online analysts to reach an immediate ____ of any condition requiring treatment.

DIAGNOSE

Scientists predict with reasonable ____ that some of these technological advances will be in place for many people worldwide, whereas the nature of other changes remains ____ for the time being.

CERTAIN, SPECULATE

Windfarms are hailed as powedul weapons in the battle against ____ warming; it is considered by many to be politically incorrect to criticise them.

GLOBE

They are clean, green and therefore ___  and viewed as such throughout the world.

VIRTUE