Soal SBMPTN Bahasa Inggris Tahun 2012 Dan Pembahasannya

Problems 1-5 are based on the following passage.

Situated on steep slopes, montane and watershed forests are especially important in ensuring water flow and inhibiting erosion. Yet, during the 1980s, montane formations suffered the highest deforestation rate of tropical forests.

When the forests are cut down, less moisture is evapotranspired into the atmosphere resulting in the formation of fewer rain clouds. Subsequently there is a decline in rainfall, subjecting the area to drought. Today Madagascar is largely a red, treeless desert from generations of forest clearing with fire. River flows decline and smaller amounts of quality water reach cities and agricultural lands.’ Colombia, once second in the world with freshwater reserves, has fallen to 24th due to its extensive deforestation over the past 30 years. Excessive deforestation around the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, combined with the dry conditions created by El Nino triggered strict, water rationing in 1998, and for the first time the city had to import water.

There is serious concern that widespread deforestation could lead to a significant decline in rainfall and trigger a positive feedback process of increasing desiccation for neighboring forest cover. The newly desiccated forest becomes prone to devastating fires. Such fires materialized in 1997 and 1998 in conjunction with the dry conditions created by el Nino. Millions of acres burned as fires swept through Indonesia, Brazil, Colombia, Central America, Florida, and other places. The Woods Hole Research Center warned that more than, 400,000 square kilometers of Brazilian Amazonia were highly vulnerable to fire in 1998.

1. the effects of erosion
2. the impact of deforestation
3. the decrease of rain forests
4. the excessive explorations of forests
5. the issues on several tropical forests.

PEMBAHASAN :
Maksud pertanyaan di atas adalah “ Apa yang ingin penulis sampaikan kepada pembaca? ”
Perhatikan pada paragraf ke – 3: “ There is serious concern that widespread deforestation could lead to a significant decline in rainfall and trigger a positive feedback process of increasing desiccation for neighboring forest cover “ (ada kekhawatiran serius bahwa penebangan hutan yang meluas dapat menyebabkan penurunan curah hujan yang signifikan dan memicu peningkatan terjadinya kekeringan di daerah sekitarnya). Dari pernyataan tersebut dapat diketahui bahwa teks di atas menyampaikan tentang akibat penebangan hutan (the impact of deforestation).
Jawaban B

1. argues for the meaning of tropical forests of which facts are put in paragraph 2
2. explores the causes of erosion of which effects are explained in paragraph 2
3. presents problems in tropical forests which are exemplified in paragraph 2
4. states problems of deforestation of which answer is given in paragraph 2
5. provides detailed ideas for information described in paragraph 2

PEMBAHASAN :
Paragraf ke-1: “Situated on steep slopes, montane and watershed forests are especially important in ensuring water flow and inhibiting erosion. Yet, during the 1980s, montane formations suffered the highest deforestation rate of tropical forests”. Maksud dari paragraf ke-1 adalah selama tahun 1980-an terjadi penebangan hutan secara besar-besaran.

Paragraf ke-2: “When the forests are cut down, less moisture is evapotranspired into the atmosphere resulting in the formation of fewer rain clouds. Subsequently there is a decline in rainfall, subjecting the area to drought. Today Madagascar is largely a red, treeless desert from generations of forest clearing with fire. River flows decline and smaller amounts of quality water reach cities and agricultural lands.’ Colombia, once second in the world with freshwater reserves, has fallen to 24th due to its extensive deforestation over the past 30 years. Excessive deforestation around the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, combined with the dry conditions created by El Nino triggered strict, water rationing in 1998, and for the first time the city had to import water.” Maksud dari paragraf ke-2 adalah beberapa negara seperti Madagaskar, Kolombia, dan Malaysia mengalami penebangan hutan secara besar-besaran sehingga terjadi penurunan jumlah dan kualitas air secara signifikan.

Dari kedua paragraf di atas saling berkaitan yaitu: “presents problems in tropical forests which are exemplified in paragraph 2” (penebangan hutan mulai terjadi sejak tahun 1980-an dan dicontohkan beberapa negara yang mengalaminya)
Jawaban C

1. Colombia
2. Australia
3. Malaysia
4. Madagaskar
5. Kuala Lumpur

PEMBAHASAN :
Perhatikan kalimat pada paragraph ke-2 berikut: “Colombia, once second in the world with freshwater reserves, has fallen to 24th due to its extensive deforestation over the past 30 years.” (Kolombia, pernah berada di peringkat kedua negara dengan cadangan air tawar terbesar di dunia, jatuh ke peringkat 24 karena terjadi penebangan hutan besar-besaran selama 30 tahun terakhir).
Jawaban A

1. Land slide will take place more frequently.
2. The rate of rainfall will decrease sharply.
3. Temperature will increase significantly
4. The biodiversity of the forests will end.
5. Water rationing will be tighter.

PEMBAHASAN :
Hal-hal  yang akan terjadi jika penebangan hutan terus terjadi di Kalimantan, kecuali …

Pertanyaan tersebut mencari hal-hal yang bukan akibat dari penebangan hutan, sebagai berikut:

• Land slide will take place more frequently (tanah longsor akan sering terjadi)
• The rate of rainfall will decrease sharply (tingkat curah hujan akan menurun tajam)
• Temperature will increase significantly (suhu akan meningkat secara signifikan)
• The biodiversity of the forests will end (keanekaragaman hayati akan punah)
• Water rationing will be tighter (penggunaan air akan dibatasi secara ketat)

Jawaban D

1. positive
2. worried
3. ignorant
4. indifferent
5. concerned

PEMBAHASAN :
Bagaimana sikap penulis terhadap penebangan hutan?

Perhatikan kalimat pada paragraf ke-3: “There is serious concern that widespread deforestation could lead to a significant decline in rainfall and trigger a positive feedback process of increasing desiccation for neighboring forest cover.” (ada kekhawatiran serius bahwa penebangan hutan yang meluas dapat menyebabkan penurunan curah hujan yang signifikan dan memicu proses peningkatan kekeringan pada hutan di sekitarnya)

• Positive = positif
• Worried = cemas
• Ignorant = tidak tahu
• indifferent = tidak peduli
• concerned = prihatin/ khawatir

Jawaban E

Problems 6-10 are based on the following passage

Everyone likes to group things. Language students group words as verbs, nouns and so on: collections of words are classified as phrases, or clauses, or sentences, and these again are reclassified according to their function. In the same way, botanists classify plants as algae, or fungi, or gymnosperms, etc. Zoologists classify animals as vertebrates and invertebrates. The vertebrates can be further classified as mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, etc. Classification enables us to keep hold of more information and, if it is based on the right data. enables us to understand better the ideas we are studying.

Chemists are no exception. The chemical classification of materials, if it is based on a good system, should enable us to understand better the many substances which exist in our world. What is to be the basis of our classification? Perhaps the most obvious one is appearance. Materials could be classified as solid, liquid or gas with some mixed types as, for example, mud being solid, liquid material and stearn a liquid/gas material. Appearance could enable us to subdivide our main classification groups a little further; the solid may be green, or black, powdery or crystalline, the liquid may be colored, oily, thick, or free flowing: the gas may be colored. However, we soon realize that many probably quite different materials have the same appearance. Both air and the deadly carbon-monoxide gas are colorless, odorless gases, but we would not like to group them as the same thing. Many different liquids are colorless, water-like materials.

1. Many kinds of liquid should be grouped as one.
2. Different kinds of gas can be colorless and odorless.
3. Materials in chemistry should be classified differently.
4. Chemistry materials have more complicated classification.
5. Taxonomy can be made and applied further to other areas.

PEMBAHASAN :
“ The examples provided in paragraph 2 clarify that … “ (contoh-contoh yang diberikan dalam paragraf ke-2 menjelaskan  tentang …)

Perhatikan kalimat pada paragraf ke-2: “we soon realize that many probably quite different materials have the same appearance. Both air and the deadly carbon-monoxide gas are colorless, odorless gases, but we would not like to group them as the same thing. Many different liquids are colorless, water-like materials.” Dari kalimat tersebut dapat diketahui bahwa bahan-bahan kimia memiliki klasifikasi yang lebih kompleks (Chemistry materials have more complicated classification).
Jawaban D

1. Chemicals may be solid, liquid, and gaseous
2. Appearance is not a useful basis in chemistry
3. The use of colors is better than that of appearance
4. Both colors and appearance should be considered
5. Colors should be included for identifying appearance

PEMBAHASAN :
“ Paragraph 2 exemplifies the idea about classification that …“ (paragraf ke-2 mencontohkan ide tentang klasifikasi tentang …).

Perhatikan kalimat pada paragraf ke-2:

“Perhaps the most obvious one is appearance” (mungkin yang paling jelas adalah penampilan).

Pada kalimat berikutnya dijelaskan bahwa:

“we soon realize that many probably quite different materials have the same appearance. Both air and the deadly carbon-monoxide gas are colorless, odorless gases, but we would not like to group them as the same thing. Many different liquids are colorless, water-like materials.” Dari kalimat tersebut dapat diketahui bahwa bahan-bahan kimia memiliki klasifikasi yang lebih kompleks, penampilan banyak yang sama tetapi ternyata berbeda bahan.

Maka dapat disimpulkan bahwa: “ Appearance is not a useful basis in chemistry ” (penampilan bukan dasar klasifikasi yang berguna dalam kimia)
Jawaban B

1. Chemical materials can also be put into classification
2. Classification of chemical materials is without exception
3. Chemists may also classify materials using certain criteria
4. When appearance is the basis, chemists are not involved
5. In material classification, chemicals should not be included

PEMBAHASAN :
Kalimat “ Ahli kimia tidak terkecuali “ (paragraph 2 baris 1) mungkin dapat dinyatakan Kembali sebagai …

Perhatikan kalimat pada paragraf ke-2: “Chemists are no exception. The chemical classification of materials, if it is based on a good system, should enable us to understand better the many substances which exist in our world. What is to be the basis of our classification? Perhaps the most obvious one is appearance.”

Kalimat di atas sesuai dengan “ Chemists may also classify materials using certain criteria “ (ahli kimia dapat mengklasifikasikan bahan dengan menggunakan kriteria tertentu)
Jawaban C

1. flora and fauna
2. human sounds
3. liquids and gases:
4. human behaviors
5. words and phrases

PEMBAHASAN :
Paragraf pada teks tersebut kemungkinan besar berkaitan dengan klasifikasi …

Perhatikan kalimat terakhir pada paragraf ke-2 berikut ini:

“ Both air and the deadly carbon-monoxide gas are colorless, odorless gases, but we would not like to group them as the same thing. Many different liquids are colorless, water-like materials.” (baik udara maupun gas karbon monoksida yang mematikan adalah gas yang tidak berwarna dan tidak berbau, tetapi kami tidak  mengelompokkannya sebagai gas yang sama. Banyak cairan yang berbeda tidak berwarna dan berwujud seperti air).
Jawaban C

1. Putting the main idea with examples
2. Presenting causes followed by effects
3. Interpreting different ways of classifying
4. Presenting the strengths of the main idea
5. Exposing supporting details chronologically

PEMBAHASAN :
Bagaimana penulis menyampaikan idenya?

Perhatikan kalimat-kalimat pada paragraf ke-1 berikut ini:
“ Everyone likes to group things “ (semua orang suka mengelompokkan sesuatu).
“ Classification enables us to keep hold of more information and, if it is based on the right data. enables us to understand better the ideas we are studying “ (klasifikasi memungkinkan kita untuk mengingat lebih banyak informasi dan memungkinkan kita untuk memahami dengan baik gagasan yang kita pelajari).
Jawaban A

Problems 11-15 are based on the following passage.

Passage A

School is necessary because it, first, makes communication with diverse people essential, as parents do not choose where their children go, and secondly, homeschooling and extra curricular activities connected to it cannot bring that diversity, for the attending group is self-selecting rather than “unfiltered mixture”. I believe that none of the two assumptions is warranted nor true.

In the first place, parents still select schools for their children on the basis of common values, cultures and achievements. As such, public schools then offer obvious misrepresentations of the society.

Not only that, I think it nonsense that homeschooling should somehow get rid of diversity from socialization in sports teams or other clubs. What members of a basketball team or a debate club share is not race, religion, nor income bracket: it is the desire to participate.

Passage B

Children can perhaps be best described as beings of potential during their school years. Each child is in the process of discovering their talents and having them be cared for in an attempt to best reach self-actualization. Under the homeschooling system parents become much more exclusive mentors to a child, and this can be problematic. Although parents are generally aware of what their child is capable of, their evaluations are not always precise.

This could be for a number of reasons. First, it may be due to the fact that their children are predominately seen in the home environment, limiting their chances to show off their potential in other situations. It could also be because parents sometimes assume that their children will share the same talents that they had. Simply stated, it would be unreasonable to assume parents could see the whole picture.

1. formal school and home school education
2. evidence of several problems with homeschooling
3. argument against home school education practices
4. reasons why homeschooling should be eliminated
5. failure which is associated with homeschooling

PEMBAHASAN :
“ The common theme underlying both passages above is … “ (Tema umum yang mendasari kedua teks di atas adalah …)

Perhatikan kalimat-kalimat yang terdapat pada kedua teks di atas sebagai berikut:

“ … homeschooling and extra curricular activities connected to it cannot bring that diversity, for the attending group is self-selecting rather than “unfiltered mixture”.

“ Not only that, I think it nonsense that homeschooling should somehow get rid of diversity from socialization in sports teams or other clubs. “

“ Under the homeschooling system parents become much more exclusive mentors to a child, and this can be problematic “

Dari kalimat-kalimat tersebut, dapat disimpulkan bahwa tema umumnya adalah “ formal school and home school education “ (Pendidikan sekolah formal dan sekolah rumah).
Jawaban A

1. Parents play a role as a private guru.
2. Sports teams are a form of social unit.
3. Children are individuals with inbom capacity.
4. Joining a social club is a matter of wish to partake.
5. Interacting with other individuals is very important.

PEMBAHASAN :
“ Which of the following statements reflects a fact mentioned in either passage above? “ (manakah dari pernyataan berikut yang mencerminkan fakta yang disebutkan dalam salah satu bagian teks di atas?)

Perhatikan kalimat 3 pada teks A: “ Not only that, I think it nonsense that homeschooling should somehow get rid of diversity from socialization in sports teams or other clubs “  fakta yang tercermin bahwa “ Sports teams are a form of social unit “ (tim olahraga adalah salah satu bentuk unit sosial)
Jawaban B

1. A wrong assumptions on both home school education and home schooling
2. parents personal preference to a certain type of school for their children
3. the need to join social events not diversity that home schoolers seek
4. parents’ limited understanding of their children potentials and talents
5. thoughts that schools are a medium for individuals to socialize freely

PEMBAHASAN :
“ The idea in passage B which is different from that in passage A is ….” (gagasan pada teks B yang berbeda dengan teks A adalah …)

Teks A

Pada teks A menekankan bahwa ada acara lain untuk memenuhi kebutuhan sosial pada anak peserta sekolah rumah.

Teks B

Pada teks B menekankan pendapat bahwa lingkungan sekolah rumah membatasi kebutuhan anak dalam pergaulan sosial.

Dari penjelasan tersebut maka perbedaan gagasan pada teks B dan teks A adalah “ the need to join social events not diversity that home schoolers seek “ (kebutuhan untuk bergabung dengan kegiatan sosial bukan keragaman yang dicari oleh peserta sekolah rumah).
Jawaban C

1. There is no rational support to believe education at home and at school.
2. Parents and teachers make inaccurate evaluations on children’ talents.
3. Children are growing their ways to develop their talents and personality.
4. Schools are the right medium for socializing: yet parents are still selective
5. Ideas of school and home school leaming are wrong; yet, school is better.

PEMBAHASAN :
“ The best summary of both passages is …” (rangkuman yang paling tepat dari kedua teks tersebut adalah …)

Teks A

“ What members of a basketball team or a debate club share is not race, religion, nor income bracket: it is the desire to participate “ (keanggotaan tim bola basket atau klub debat bukanlah tentang ras agama, atau golongan pendapatan, itu adalah keinginan untuk berpartisipasi).

Teks B

“ Each child is in the process of discovering their talents and having them be cared for in anattempt to best reach self-actualization “ (setiap anak sedang dalam proses menemukan bakat mereka dan menjaganya dalam upaya untuk mencapai aktualisasi diri terbaik)

Maka rangkuman yang tepat adalah “ Children are growing their ways to develop their talents and personality “ (anak-anak mempunyai cara sendiri untuk mengembangkan bakat dan kepribadian mereka).
Jawaban C

1. still grow in so far he/she has the need to partake in a basketball team
2. grow normally because somebody talent is not affected by anyone else
3. never be revealed until after the right expert can reveal the child’s talent
4. grow little and later it may stop growing at all as there is little stimulation
5. remain undeveloped because none is able to reveal the child’s potential

PEMBAHASAN :
“ If a child’s parents are not able to identify the child’s talent comprehensively, a homeschool child’s basketball talent will …” (jika orang tua anak tidak mampu menemukan bakat anak secara menyeluruh, maka bakat basket anak sekolah rumah akan …)

Perhatikan kalimat pada teks A sebagai berikut:

“ Not only that, I think it nonsense that homeschooling should somehow get rid of diversity from socialization in sports teams or other clubs. What members of a basketball team or a debate club share is not race, religion, nor income bracket: it is the desire to participate “

“ still grow in so far he/she has the need to partake in a basketball team “ (bakat anak peserta sekolah rumah dibidang olahraga masih bisa berkembang sejauh ini dia memiliki keinginan untuk mengambil bagian dalam tim bola basket)
Jawaban A