Cambridge IELTS Academic 14 Reading Test 4 Answers with Explanation / IELTS Academic Reading: The Secret of Staying Young , Why Zoos are Good with Explanation , Ocean Debris/ Marine Trash

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1.

The Secret of Staying Young

Answer	Keyword	Location	Explanation
1. Four/4	focused age groups, ants	Para 3, line 1	Scan for the keywords; focused, age groups= age ranges, ants.Now read this line “In the lab, P. dentata worker ants typically live for around 140 days. Giraldo focused on ants at four age ranges: 20 to 22 days, 45 to 47 days, 95 to 97 days and 120 to 122 days.”Giraldo focused on ants at four age ranges, so the answer is four.
2. Young	how well, ants, looked after	Para 4	Scan for the Keywords fin para 4: how well, ants, looked after= took care.    Now read this line, “Giraldo watched how well the ants took care of the young of the colony,  .. . ..”Giraldo watched how well the ants took care of the young of the colony. So, the answer is: young
3. food	ability, locate, scent trail	Para 4, line 2	Scan for the Keywords in para 4: ability, locate, trailNow read this line, “She compared how well 20-day-old and 95-day-old ants followed the telltale scent that the insects usually leave to mark a trail to food.”This means that she studied ants’ ability to locate food using a scent trail.
4. light	effect, had on them,	Para 4, line 3	Scan for the keywords in para 4: effect= respond, them= ants.Now read this line, “She tested how ants responded to light . .. .”She tested how ants responded to light means she tested the effect of light on ants.
5. aggressevely	attacked, prey,	Para 4	Scan for the keywords in para 4: attacked, prey.Now read this line, “And when it came to reacting to prey, the older ants attacked the poor fruit fly just as aggressively as the young ones did, ..” She studied how aggressively ants attacked the prey.
6. location	comparison, age, dying, cells, brains	Para 5, line 1	Scan for the Keywords in para 5: comparison, age and, dying cells, brains.Now read this line, “Then Giraldo compared the brains of 20-day-old and 95-day-old ants, identifying any cells that were close to death. She saw no major differences with age, nor was there any difference in the location of the dying cells, ”She saw no major differences with age, nor was there any difference in the location of the dying cells suggests that she compared between the age and location of dying cells.
7. neurons	synaptic complexes, mushroom bodies	Para 5, line 4	Scan for the Keywords in para 5: synaptic complexes, mushroom bodies.Now read this line, “Ants and other insects have structures in their brains called mushroom bodies, which are important for processing information, learning and memory. She also wanted to see if ageing affects the density of synaptic complexes within these structures – regions where neurons come together.”It is stated that synaptic complexes are regions whereneurons come together.
8. chemicals	brain, associated, ageing	Para 5, line 7	Scan for the keywords in para 5. Now read this line, “What was more, the old ants didn’t experience any drop in the levels of either serotonin or dopamine – brain chemicals whose decline often coincides with ageing.”Serotonin and dopamine are two brain chemicals whose decline often coincides (associated) with aging. Thus, the answer is “chemicals”.
9. false	Pheidole dentata remain		Now read this line “Naked mole rats can live for almost 30 years and stay fit for nearly their entire lives.”Suggesting that, Pheidole dentata ants are not the only known animals which remain active for almost their whole lives. This is contradiction to question.
10. true	Ysabel Giraldo, first person		Now read this line, “Unlike all previous studies, which only estimated how old the ants were, her work tracked the ants from the time the pupae became adults, so she knew their exact ages.”Here, Unlike all previous studies = works done by previous scientists who did not use data about insects’ age, her worked track means Ysabel Giraldo was the first to do so.
11. false	Giraldo‟s experiments, predicted	Para 4	Now read this line “Giraldo expected the older ants to perform poor but the elderly ants were all good caretakers and trail-followers”.Means that She thought that they would perform badly, but they performed well. This is a contradictory statement.
12. not given	bees, age-related decline	Para 6	Bees is mentioned in 6th para, but no clear information on whether the recent studies of bees used several methods of measuring age-related decline.
13. true	Pheidole dentata ants, laboratory, live	Para 7	Scan for the Keywords in para: 7.Now read this line “Out in the wild, the ants probably don’t live for a full 140 days thanks to predator, disease and just being in an environment that’s much harsher than the comforts of the lab.”In the wild, the ants probably don’t live for a full 140 days compared to that of in the lab because of disease, predator and environment which is harsh in wild.

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 .

Why Zoos are Good with Explanation

Answer	Keywords	Location	Explanation
14 B	quickly, animal species, die out	Para B, First line	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: quickly= sudden, animal species, die out = extinct. Now read intensively “Colossal numbers of species are becoming extinct across the world, and many more are increasingly threatened and therefore risk extinction. Moreover, some of these collapses have been sudden, dramatic and unexpected.”The word “sudden” is a synonym for quickly, so the sentence suggests that some animals may become extinct, or die out, quickly.
15 E	study animals, captivity,	Para E, line 3	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: study = research, captivity = animals in zoos, animals.  Now read intensively “Being able to undertake research on animals in zoos where there is less risk and fewer variables means real changes can be effected on wild populations.”Here, there is less risk and fewer variables = reasons why it is preferableSo, zoos have many advantages for studying how animals live, act and react.
16 C	ways of learning, animals, other than	Para C	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: ways of learning, animals, other than visiting zoo,     Read carefully “… .. television documentaries are becoming ever more detailed and impressive,. .” and again this line “ . . .and many natural history specimens are on display in museums, . ..  . .”Thus, this paragraph shows two ways of learning about animals other than visiting them in zoos.
17 A	animals in zoos, healthier	Para A, line 3	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: animals in zoos, healthier.Read intensively, “Animals in good zoos get a varied and high-quality diet with all the supplements required, and any illnesses they might have will be treated.”Zoos are healthy places for animals, including a good diet and treatment of illnesses.
18 True	live , zoo,wild,	Para A, line 1	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: live, zoo, wild. Now read intensively; “it is perfectly possible for many species of animals living in zoos or wildlife parks to have a quality of life as high as, or higher than, in the wild.”Here, a quality of life as high as, or higher than, in the wild means likely to live longer.
19 True	species, zoos, found, wild,	Para B, line 6	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: species, zoos, no longer be found, wild,  Now read this line “A good number of species only exist in captivity”.A good number of species only exist in captivity implies that these species cannot be found in the wild.
20 Not Given	wildlife documentaries, zoo visitors,	Para c, line 2	Scan for the keywords in para C.    Television documentaries are becoming ever more detailed and impressive but there is no relation between this and zoo visitor numbers.
21 False	zoos, transmitting animals,	Para D, line 1	Keywords for this question: zoos, transmitting information, about animals.Now read intensively, “This was an area where zoos used to be lacking. .. ”This was an area where zoos used to be lacking, implies that zoos were not good at this in the past.
22 Not Given	studying animals, in zoos,	Para E	Paragraph E talks about the role of zoos in research. But we do not find any information regarding stress in studying animals in the zoos or in the wild.
23 & 24 B, D	TWO, zoo staff,	Para D, line 5	Read this line now, “Many zoos also work directly to educate conservation workers in other countries, or send their animal keepers abroad to contribute their knowledge and skills to those working in zoos and reserves, ”Here, Many zoos also work directly to educate conservation workers in other countries means zoo staff can teach conservation workers.Send their animal keepers abroad means that some animal keepers (a type of zoo staff) travel to overseas to help other zoo staff.
25 & 26. B, E	TWO, beliefs	Para F and B, line 3	Read this line in para F, “They are vital not just in terms of protecting animals, but as a means of learning about them to aid those still in the wild, as well as educating and informing the general population about these animals and their world so that they can assist or at least accept  the need to be more environmentally conscious.”In para B animals have been reintroduced into the wild means that animals will be raised in zoos before being released into the wild.In para F educating and informing the general population about these animals means zoos can increase publicawareness of environmental issues.

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 .

 

Ocean Debris/ Marine Trash

Answer	Keywords	Location	Explanation
27 False	Rochman, colleagues, marine, debris	Para 2, line 3	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: people, research, problem, marine debris.Now read these lines, “plenty of studies have sounded alarm bells about the state of marine debris” and that “Rochman and her colleagues set out to determine how many of those perceived risks are real”.This implies that there has been other research on marine debris before Rochman and her colleagues, and they want to examine these previous studies.
28 Not Given	most in danger, ocean birds,	Para 3, line 2	We cannot find any such information which shows us of the most affected creatures.
29 False	Rochman, already proved, populations, birds	Para 3, line 2	Now read this line, “For example, a study could show that certain seabirds eat plastic bags, and go on to warn that whole bird populations are at risk of dying out. ‘But the truth was that nobody had yet tested those perceived threats,’ Rochman says. ‘There wasn’t a lot of information’.”Here, the lines suggest that there wasn’t enough information to prove that populations of some birds would become extinct.
30 True	papers, danger, ocean trash,	Para 4	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: analysed, papers, danger, ocean trashNow read this line, “Rochman and her colleagues examined more than a hundred papers on the impacts of marine debris that were published through 2013. Within each paper, they asked what threats scientists had studied – 366 perceived threats in all”Found 366 perceived threats can be understood that these papers focused on various kinds of danger (threats).
31 Flase	research, badly, designed	Para 4	Scan for the keywords and synonyms:  research, badly, designed.Now read this line, “In 83 percent of cases, the perceived dangers of ocean trash were proven true. In the remaining cases, the working group found the studies had weaknesses in design and content which affected the validity of their conclusions – they lacked a control group, for example, or used faulty statistics.”Here, remaining cases were fault means that 100-83= 17% fault. So, only 17% of the research analysed by Rochman and her colleagues was badly designed.
32 True	find, mussels, plastic.	Para 6	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: , find, mussels, plastic.Now read this line, “Strikingly, Rochman says, only one well-designed study failed to find the effect it was looking for, an investigation of mussels ingesting microscopic plastic bits. The plastic moved from the mussels’ stomachs to their bloodstreams, scientists found, and stayed there for weeks – but didn’t seem to stress out the shellfish.”Rochman said this study “failed to find the effect it was looking for”, so clearly it was looking for some effect of the plastic on the mussels.
33 Not Given		Para 6	There is no information which shows that some mussels take plastic as a choice of their regular food.
34 large	bits, debris, harmful, animals	Para 8, line 2	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: bits of debris, harmful to animals.Now read this line, “Most of the dangers also involved large pieces of debris – animals getting entangled in trash, for example, or eating it and severely injuring themselves.”
35 microplastic	little research, synthetic fibres	Para 9	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: little research, synthetic fibres,   Now read this line, “But a lot of ocean debris is ‘microplastic’, or pieces smaller than five millimeters. Rochman’s group found little research on the effects of these tiny bits”These tiny bits refer to microplastic.
36 Population	focused, individual animals, entire	Para 10, line 2	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: most of, focused, individual animals, not entire.  Now read this line, “Many studies have looked at how plastic affects an individual animal, or that animal’s tissues or cells, rather than whole populations.”
37 concentrations	plastic, lab, always, reflect, ocean	Para 10, line 3	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: plastic, lab, not, reflect, oceanNow read this ,”And in the lab, scientists often use higher concentrations of plastic than what’s really in the ocean.”This means that the concentrations of plastic used in the lab was different from, and thus did not always correctly reflect, those in the ocean.
38 predators	impact, reduction, numbers, species		Scan for the keywords and synonyms: impact, reduction, numbers, speciesNow read this line, “how deaths in one species could affect that animal’s predators”.Deaths in one species can be understood as a reduction in numbers of that species.
39 disasters	possible impact, future, involving oil	Para 11	Scan for the keywords and synonyms: possible impact, future, involving oil,  Now read this line, “We need to be asking more ecologically relevant questions,’ Rochman say, Usually, scientists don’t know exactly how disasters such as a tanker accidentally spilling its whole cargo of oil and polluting huge areas of the ocean will affect the environment until after they’ve happened. ”This means that more information related to disasters is needed.
40 A			The entire passage concerns Rochman and her study on other prior research on marine debris. She assessed these studies to answer the question of whether the situation is as bad as they suggested. In other words, Rochman assessed the threat of marine debris mentioned by other researchers.