An Ingenious Idea: The Answers.

Good day to all our readers. I can now provide you with the answers to the last Six Minute English Quiz, which centred on an ingenious idea being applied by people living in the poorer parts of Manila, Philippines.

In these poorer areas, the houses are placed very close together, and this prevents light from reaching them. The inhabitants' idea was to set  bottles filled with water into the roofs of their houses. The effect is to diffuse the sunlight that falls on the bottles, resulting in much better lighting in the house.

So here are the answers to the questions:

1. This week's official question: How many islands make up the Philippines?

c) 7107

2. ‘Slums’ are areas of a city where the houses are of very bad quality. How many people live in slums in the Philippines? Twenty million people, a tenth of them in the capital, Manila.

3. What is one of the biggest problems of living in a Manila slum? It’s very dark and it is too expensive for most slum inhabitants to use electricity to light their houses.

4. Electricity in the Philippines is the most expensive in Asia.

5. What does the invention consist of? A plastic bottle, filled with water. It is placed in the roof of a house, The sunlight shines on the roof and is refracted through the bottles inserted in it. The light can then be diffused all over an otherwise dark house.

6. In terms of electrical power in Watts, how much light is produced by each plastic bottle? Fifty to sixty watts – more than many electric light bulbs.

Many thanks to British Council Rome student Giovanni for posting his answers on the Tag Board. And I know a few people have visited the Blog, listened to the exercise - but not left a comment, either on the Tag Board or in the Comments section.

In these days of heightened concern for privacy, it is understandable if people are reluctant to post to a web site. But please be reassured that your e-mail address or other personal details are not at risk unless you fill in the 'e-mail / URL window on the Tag Board. I would advise you to leave this window blank. But do write your first name in the 'Name' window, as this makes the Rome English site more genuinely  interactive.

I must apologise for taking 15 days to produce the answers to the Quiz. The start of the teaching year is often very busy, not to say 'frantic'. I will be posting something later this week, first on Michael Marzio's highly useful "Real English", followed by another "6-Minute English" quiz.

Finally, a word to the occasional Spammers whom I encounter on the Tag Board. Leaving a message in a language other than English will lead to your message being deleted as well as  reported to the Tag Board site administrator.
More later this week.
Yours,
Mike