寶血會上智英文書院
- 2012 年入學面試試題
程序
進入學校，教職員會要求同學填寫申請表。然後指示同學到上層課室面試，同學需自行前往。
在課室外設置座位讓同學等候，老師逐一召喚同學進入課室，進行個人口試。面試由中國籍老師以英語進行。
老師會給予同學一份英文雜誌，同學在５分鐘內完成閱讀指定內容後，以英語回答問題。
個人口試
依照雜誌內容，以英語回答問題，準備時間約5分鐘，作答時間約５分鐘。
2012
年題目: Pollution
l What are the causes of pollution in Hong Kong?
l How can Hong Kong citizen help with the reduction of air pollution?
l What are the effects of air pollution to Hong Kong citizen?
l Apart from air pollution, is there any other type of pollution that
affects the environment? What are the effects?
Local air
quality objectives are less stringent than WHO guidelines
Samanthi Dissanayake
BBC News, Hong Kong
|
Disappointment was the overriding
emotion on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront.
"I can't really see anything,"
said one tourist peering into the amber haze.
What they were meant to see was the
picture postcard view of Hong Kong's dramatic skyline. What they saw instead
were some dark shapes across a body of water.
The literal translation of Hong Kong is
"fragrant harbour", but lingering exhaust fumes leave more of an
impression on the nose than any cool sea breeze.
A few businesses have already left for
the sweeter air of Singapore.
Michael Short lived in Hong Kong for 17
years and he loved it. But in the 1990s things began to change.
"I'd go across the harbour on a
daily basis and gradually realised things were getting worse. It became very
depressing not to be able to see the other side," he said.
Mr Short is a company director, and 18
months ago he packed up and moved to Singapore.
"We could be doing this in Hong
Kong, but none of the directors want to live there. That's the cold hard
fact."
Local problem
There are two main sources of air
pollution in Hong Kong.
In terms of sheer tonnage, most of the
air pollution comes from factories in the Pearl River Delta across the border,
and it is the particulates they emit that cause the haze. But this comes in
concentrated spurts.
The rest of the time it is local sources
- vehicle emissions, power plants and marine traffic - that are at the root of
the problem.
Christine Loh, head of the think tank Civic Exchange, says this means that blame cannot just be shifted over the border, and that the government has been slow to act.
"So far, the government is in denial. It's not that the government is not doing anything. It's a question of whether it is doing enough, fast enough," she said.
Even the pollutants that drift over the border are in one sense "made in Hong Kong" - many of the 70,000 factories in the Pear River Delta are owned by Hong Kong businesses.
Serious cost
"Pollution is responsible for
serious chronic disease and premature death on a daily basis," said
Anthony Hedley, professor of community health at the University of Hong Kong.
He is less worried about departing
expats than the children who grow up here.
Hong Kong's air quality objectives are
20 years old and less stringent than World Health Organisation guidelines set
in 2006.
The government has commissioned its own
review of objectives - but it has been accused of procrastination.
"It seems they want to postpone
raising the objectives because of fear about Hong Kong's public image,"
said Bill Barron, an environmental economist at the Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology.
In the choked-up district of Causeway
Bay, Annelise Connell and Phil Heung of environmental group Clear the Air don
fluorescent vests and patrol the streets, confronting the drivers of vehicles
with idling engines.
"You get up in the morning and the
government says that pollution is going to be high today - what a way to
live!" said Ms Connell.
The Environmental Protection Department
has put in measures such as tightening vehicle emission standards, introducing
cleaner fuels and controlling smoky engines.
Such policies have succeeded, in that
overall pollutant emissions from road vehicles have dropped sharply since 1997.
But this has not significantly lowered
levels of air pollution at the roadside itself, which remain very high. This is
in a city where almost half the population lives five minutes away from heavy
traffic.
Part of the problem lies in the very
structure of such a densely populated place as Hong Kong, where congested roads
and high-rise buildings prevent pollutants from being dispersed by wind.
Roadside
air pollution remains high, despite restrictions
Powerful lobbies
Then there is the structure of
policy-making.
The Environmental Protection Department
(EPD) acknowledged the impact of air pollution in a statement:
"Eliminating environmental pollution has a significant bearing not only on
public health and the quality of life, but also on the long-term development of
Hong Kong."
But campaigners argue that Hong Kong's legislature is heavily tilted
towards business, in particular the transport lobby.
One of the "functional constituency" seats ( legislative
council seats reserved for special interest groups) is elected by the transport
sector.
"It's very much pro-roads," said Dr Barron. "The
two rail companies have one vote each, and the taxi owners and mini bus owners
have many votes.
"It's not based on how big a share of the transport you hold
but how many companies there are."
Miriam Lau, the representative of the transport functional
constituency, insisted that industry was co-operating.
"Environmentalists want change overnight. But this is a
business society. If companies have made investments, they cannot simply throw
it all away. Time is needed to make changes," she said.
She argued that the public - through their directly elected
representatives - are as eager to keep road transport options open as any
transport lobbyist.
There are positive signs of cross-border co-operation between Hong
Kong and Guangdong. A joint air quality monitoring mechanism has been set up
and both governments have committed to reducing emissions of certain pollutants
by 2010.
The voluntary Clean Air Charter launched by the Hong Kong General
Chambers of Commerce and the Business Council on the Environment makes certain
green requirements of businesses.
The largest employer in Hong Kong, the government, has already
signed up.
There are also more plans to reduce power plant and vehicle
emissions.
Michael Short said he would return to Hong Kong if the skies
cleared up.
Time will tell if the government's initiatives meet his challenge
Ref:
