VSTEP Reading Mock Test 14

Spring is the season when newly minted college graduates flock to New York City to start their careers. They begin the search for their dream apartment, brokers say, with the same singleminded determination that earned them their degrees and landed them their jobs in the first place. But that determination only goes so far when it comes to Manhattan real estate. [A] 

“Almost every single person I’ve worked with thinks there’s a golden nugget of an apartment waiting right for them,” said Paul Hunt, an agent at Citi Habitats who specializes in rentals. “They all want to be in the Village, and they all want the ‘Sex and the City’ apartment.” 

The first shock for a first-time renter will probably be the prices. Consider that the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom in the Village is more than $3,100 and that the average for a studio is over $2,200. Or that the average rent for a one-bedroom in a doorman building anywhere in Manhattan is close to $3,500. [B] 

Mr. Hunt said that when he shows prospective renters what their budget really can buy, they are sometimes so appalled that “they think I’m trying to fool them or something, and they run away and I don’t hear from them again.” 

Alternatively, the renter checks his or her expectations and grudgingly decides to raise the price limit, or look in other neighborhoods or get a roommate. “When expectations are very high, the process can be very frustrating,” Mr. Hunt said. 

The thousands of new graduates who will be driving the engine of the city’s rental market from now until September will quickly learn that renting in New York is not like renting anywhere else. [C] 

The second shock is likely to be how small a Manhattan apartment can be. It is not uncommon in New York, for example, to shop for a junior one-bedroom only to find out it is really a studio that already has or can have a wall put up to create a bedroom. 

[D] To start with, landlords want only tenants who earn at least 40 times the monthly rent, which means an $80,000 annual salary for a $2,000 apartment. According to census data, more than 25,000 graduates aged 22 to 28 moved to the city in 2006, and their median salary was about $35,600. 

Those who don’t make 40 times their monthly rent need a guarantor, usually a parent, who must make at least 80 times the monthly rent. In addition to a security deposit, some landlords also want the first and last month’s rent. Tack on a broker’s fee and a prospective renter for that $2,000 apartment is out of pocket nearly $10,000 just to get the keys to the place.

‘Ladies and gentlemen’, the captain's voice crackled over the plane's public address system. "If you look out of the window on the right side of the aircraft," he said, "you will have a clear view of Greenland. In my 15 years of flying, I have not seen a scene like this." I opened the window shade, and I understood what had so startled the pilot. Instead of the habitual snowy landscape and frozen glaciers, a wide swathe of black water was visible as it flowed into the Atlantic. It was late spring, but the giant icebox that is Greenland was already melting. 

The fleeting image that I saw from 30,000 feet in early May is consistent with massive amounts of climate data gathered from across the planet. It is now clear that on average, the global surface temperature has increased by about one degree Celsius since 1900 and has been the cause of extreme climate events across the planet. 

At times, warming climate combined with soot in the air thrown by wild fire has accelerated the melting. Warm weather is leading ice sheets to break up and turning glaciers into flowing streams. In May, NASA scientists concluded that the rapidly melting glacial region of Antarctica has passed "the point of no return", threatening to increase sea levels by as much as 13 feet within the next few centuries. [A] The fact that the melting is taking place slowly and its effect may not be felt for a few decades seems to offer comfort to those who want to continue their lifestyle relying on fossil fuels. Unwilling to believe in global warming or make the sacrifices needed to face the challenge, politicians have been finding excuses to do nothing. [B] 

American President Barack Obama, not hobbled by the need to fight elections, has now broken ranks with such politicians. Unable to pass legislation in the face of Republican (and sometimes Democratic) opposition, he instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to announce regulatory policies to curb emissions from power plants in the United States by 30 per cent by 2030. He hopes that regulations would influence the US states to adopt aggressive market interventions to address global warming. Of course, execution of the policy still lies in the hands of many state governors who would find ways to resist, saying that regulations would raise the cost to the economy and cause unemployment among coal workers. As President Obama told Thomas Friedman of the New York Times: "One of the hardest things in politics is getting a democracy to deal with something now where the payoff is long term or the price of inaction is decades away." [C] 

The price of inaction could be raised - if the coming global summit on climate in Paris could do what other summits have failed to do: agree on a fixed target for greenhouse gas emissions and a rigorous system for monitoring. China has hinted at capping coal burning in the next 15 years, adding weight in favour of action. [D] Meanwhile, melting in Greenland and the Antarctica will continue as the sun scorches the fields and rising water threatens the coastal areas. 

THE BALLET SCULPTOR

Delicate figures ready to begin a dance or caught in mid-flight – these images dominate the work of sculptor Suzy Jordan.

Young sculptor Suzy Jordan is fast developing an international reputation for her beautifully-crafted figures which are made from a mixture of clay and metal. People love dancers, particularly ballet dancers, and Suzy has a fascination for them too. “I used to long to be a dancer when I was younger,” she says. “There’s something amazing about all those graceful movements that, unknown to the audience, can be so painful for the dancers. I'm glad I didn’t go in for it, but just watching them gives me so many ideas.”

 Suzy has been in touch with some leading ballet companies to see if they’ll allow her to sit and draw their dancers during rehearsal time. Her dream is to join forces with them, do a series of life-size sculptures and then hold an exhibition in the foyer of the theatre where the dancers perform.

 Most of her sculpture is of figures. “If I get the chance to sculpt from life, it’s really great because I can work more quickly and I’m not guessing shapes or turning to reference books,” she told us. But most of her work has to be done from drawings. After graduating from Art School, Suzy taught drawing for a number of years before setting up as a sculptor, so at least she has the necessary skills.

 Most of Suzy’s works are individually commissioned and one piece can take as long as four or five months to complete. All of the work is done in a small shed in the garden of her family home in the country. This tin space, about 3 square metres, contains her main worktop, plus all her other gear. Suzy uses terracotta clay to form her sculptures and applies a mixture of lacquer and crushed metal powder, usually bronze, on top. This makes her pieces less expensive than solid bronze figures would be. She then adds a layer of resin or wax to give her work an aged look.

 One of Suzy’s biggest commissions came from a school in Sweden. They wanted three specially-designed life-size figures to suspend from the ceiling in their gymnasium. Hard to imagine how she did it, but each one was made in her garden shed. They had to be made of plaster so that they wouldn’t be too heavy to hang up. Suzy travelled to Sweden with the sculptures to help direct their installation. One of the drawbacks of working to commissions rather than on mass produced pieces is having to work out what sort of price to charge. “I used to be such a softie,” she confides. “If someone fell in love with something I’d made, I’d accept a lower offer or let them pay for it in instalments, just so that it went to a good home. But I've learnt not to do that anymore.”

 Suzy’s work starts at around £100 for the smallest figures, but large sculptures can cost as much as £3000 each. But as she doesn’t make copies of her work, each person has an original, so they must be worth having as an investment. As she explains, “All artists want some kind of recognition for their work. I don’t think many of us do it for the money. I have a friend who says she can’t wait to see my work in ten years and see how it’s progressed. I’m very lucky to be doing the sort of work where that kind of progression shows.”