EXTRA READING COMPREHENSION 2

1 Read the text. What do the numbers below refer to?

RUBBISH ISLAND ON THE MALDIVES The Maldives are a group of beautiful tropical islands in the Indian Ocean. But the Maldives have got a dirty secret: Thilafushi, the world’s biggest rubbish island. Ships bring more than 330 tonnes of rubbish to Thilafushi every day. The Maldivians built Thilafushi in 1992. At the time, they were looking for a place to throw out their rubbish. Nearly 100,000 people lived in Malé, the capital city, and they were producing a lot of rubbish every day. Malé is only two square kilometres, and there wasn’t a good place for all of the rubbish. The government decided to build Thilafushi to solve the problem. Today, more than 10,000 tourists come to the Maldives every week. Each tourist produces 3.5 kilos of rubbish, and Thilafushi is growing by one square metre every day. The Maldivians are trying to find new places for their rubbish, and they now send some of it to India. Indian ships bring vegetables to the Maldives and they return with empty cans, metals and cardboard for recycling. It’s a rubbish crisis, but the tourists don’t know that. They continue to swim in the blue sea and enjoy the sun on the sandy beaches. They have got no idea about the rubbish island only a short distance away.

       1.  330           ……………………                   3.  10,000   ……………………

       2.  100,000    ……………………                   4.  3.5         ……………………