Vol 4 Test 10 Part 2

PART 2
Speaker 1 0:00
Section two, you will hear the chairperson of the Middletown urban farming scheme talking to a group of people who are interested in joining the scheme. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 16 on page three.

Speaker 1 1:04
Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 16.

Speaker 2 1:12
I'm Chris Butler, and I'm the chairperson of the Middletown urban farming scheme, or MUFS, for short, a highly successful program which encourages city dwellers to grow their own fruit and vegetables to become city farmers, if you will, who started MUFG as well, the idea of urban farming has been around for quite a while, particularly among town planners. But it was actually a group of middle town business people, including myself, who decided to create what became m u fs. University agriculture specialists got involved later. Now initially, the aim was not some eco friendly goal of reducing co2 emissions caused by the transport of food from farm to dinner plate. It was simply to maximize the utilization of the vacant or idle land that lies within the city. Of course, later, we realized that an additional benefit might be a healthier diet for local people. Let me tell you a bit about the groups that have joined the scheme. We've got any number of schools involved, and loads of corporate employees. So our message seems to have been well received there. But for next year, we're going to concentrate on getting various community centres like those for senior citizens to join. Because so far, they've been somewhat slow to take up the scheme. Now, the core committee of the m mu FS is a group of dedicated gardeners, they probably won't be familiar with your specific plot of land. They're mostly amateurs, but they are the people who know the ins and outs of gardening. And they will be happy to sit down with any m u fs member, and make some hands on suggestions about gardening. But don't expect them to know the answers to technical questions. Like the Latin names plus, the m mu Fs are keen to support members who are physically disabled. We're looking at the possibility providing specially adapted gardening tools on loan to members who can't cope with regular tools. That's not happening yet. But we do have some window boxes as well as larger containers, which we can distribute free of charge to these members, although they will have to provide their own soil and compost themselves. I'm especially proud of the work we've done with the local schools, both grade school level and high schools. The teachers say that they knew the scheme would be of some practical use in science classes like biology. Despite the original hopes of son, the fruit and vegetable plots haven't provided cheaper lunches for their students. But what they didn't anticipate was the change in attitude that the scheme has created amongst their students. They save the students have become much more conscious of their surrounding environment. They want to keep it neat and tidy.

Speaker 1 4:10
Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 17 to 20 on page four.

Speaker 1 4:37
Now listen, and answer questions 17 to 20.

Speaker 2 4:45
Now a number of local organizations and businesses provide our members with free goods and services. Let me go through some of them. The city hospital, as you might expect, has to provide 1000s of meals for its patients. So the manager of its kitchen runs a course for our members on how to use vegetables in a huge variety of dishes. The local government found it had a large glass building, which the Parks Department used to start off flower seeds and young plants during the winter. And they agreed to allow our members to use this free of charge to get their own little seedlings off to a good start. Another thing, the university has agreed that if members send them a sample of their soil, they will do a series of tests on it to indicate what kind of plants will grow best, and what types of fertilizer and nutrients would be best to use. And just to make sure our members know what's good for them. A supermarket is offering a series of classes on how to lose weight and stay healthy by having a sensible diet. Now, let's talk about the practicalities.

Speaker 1 5:57
That is the end of section two. You now have half a minute to check your answers.

Speaker 1 6:34
Now turn to section three on page five