Cambridge IELTS Academic 17 Reading Test 3 Answers with Explanation / IELTS Academic Reading: The thylacine , Palm Oil , Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers

READING PASSAGE 1

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

The thylacine

Q	Answer	Keywords	Location	Text
Q1	carnivorous	looked like a dog, series of stripes, diet	1st and 2nd paragraph	1st paragraph: Resembling a dog, the thylacine had dark brown stripes over its back, beginning at the rear of the body and extending onto the tail. 2nd paragraph: In terms of feeding, it was exclusively carnivorous, eating an entirely carnivorous diet (2nd paragraph, 3rd and 4th line).
Q2	scent	probably depended mainly on	2nd paragraph, line 6,7	During long-distance chases (=when hunting), thylacines were likely to have relied more on(= depended) scent than any other sense (2nd paragraph, line 6,7).
Q3	pouch	young spent first months of life	paragraph 3, line 3 & 4	Newborns crawled into the pouch on the belly of their mother, and attached themselves to one of the four teats, remaining there for up to three months (paragraph 3, line 3 & 4).
Q4	fossil	last evidence in mainland Australia	paragraph 7, line 1,2	The most recent, well-dated occurrence of a thylacine on the mainland is a carbon-dated fossil from Murray Cave in Western Australia, which is around 3,100 years old (paragraph 7, line 1,2).
Q5	habitat	reduction in habitat and available sources of food	paragraph 5	It is likely that various other factors also contributed to the decline and eventual extinction of the species. These include competition with wild dogs introduced by European settlers, loss of habitat (reduction in habitat) along with the disappearance of prey species (=reduction in .. and available sources of food) (paragraph 5).
Q6	True	Significant numbers of thylacines were killed by humans from the 1830s onwards	paragraph 5	The decline of thylacines, which began in the 1830s and continued for a century, is generally attributed to the relentless efforts of sheep farmers and bounty hunters** with shotguns (paragraph 5).
Q7	False	Several thylacines were born in zoos during the late 1800s	paragraph 6	There was only one successful attempt to breed a thylacine in captivity(=zoo), at Melbourne Zoo in 1899. This was despite the large numbers that went through some zoos (paragraph 6).
Q8	Not Given	John Gould’s prediction about the thylacine surprised some biologists	paragraph 6	The famous naturalist John Gould foresaw(=prediction) the thylacine’s demise when he published his Mammals of Australia between 1848 and 1863, writing, ‘The numbers of this singular animal will speedily diminish, extermination will have its full sway, and it will then, like the wolf of England and Scotland, be recorded as an animal of the past.’ NO information about feeling surprised (paragraph 6).

Question	Answer	Keywords	Location	Text
Q9	False	In the early 1900s, many scientists became worried about the possible extinction of the thylacine	paragraph 7	However, there seems to have been little public pressure to preserve the thylacine, nor was much concern expressed by scientists at the decline(extinction) of this species in the decades that followed (paragraph 7).
Q10	Not Given	T. T. Flynn’s proposal to rehome(find new home) captive(in case) thylacines on an island proved to be impractical	paragraph 7	Notable exception was T.T. Flynn, Professor of Biology at the University of Tasmania. In 1914, he was sufficiently concerned about the scarcity of the thylacine to suggest that some should be captured and placed on a small island(rehome). But there is no information about “proved to be impractical or not” (paragraph 7, line 3 and 4).
Q11	False	There were still reasonable numbers of thylacines in existence when a piece of legislation protecting the species during their breeding season was passed	paragraph 7	But it was not until 1929, with the species on the very edge(small/minor) of extinction, that Tasmania’s Animals and Birds Protection Board passed a motion protecting thylacines only for the month of December, which was thought to be their prime breeding season (paragraph 7, line 4, 5, and 6).
Q12	True	From 1930 to 1936, the only known living thylacines were all in captivity	paragraph 7	The last known wild thylacine to be killed was shot by a farmer in the north-east of Tasmania in 1930, leaving just captive specimens. Official protection of the species by the Tasmanian government was introduced in July 1936 (paragraph 7, line 8).
Q13	Not Given	Attempts to find living thylacines are now rarely made	paragraph 8	There have been numerous expeditions and searches for the thylacine over the years, none of which has produced definitive evidence that thylacines still exist. The species was declared extinct by the Tasmanian government in 1986. No information whether these attempts are now made or not (paragraph 8).

READING PASSAGE 2

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

Palm Oil

Question	Answer	Keywords	Location	Text
Q14	Deforestation is reduced	Range of potential environmental advantages of oil palm tree cultivation	Paragraph F, L1-3	"Oil palm plantations produce at least four and potentially up to ten times more oil per hectare than soybean, rapeseed, sunflower or other competing oils. (By this environmental benefit). Deforestation is reduced."
Q15	The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)	Organization controlling the environmental impact of palm oil production	Paragraph G, L1	"The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)"
Q16	Palm oil is consumed in various products globally	Widespread global use of palm oil	Paragraph A, L3-5	"Palm oil is an edible oil derived from the fruit of the African oil palm tree, and is currently the most consumed vegetable oil in the world."
Q17	Bird's nest fern	Species benefiting the ecosystem of oil palm plantations	Paragraph H, L1	"New research at Ellwood’s lab hints at one plant which might make all the difference. The bird’s nest fern (Asplenium nidus) grows.."
Q18	Rapid expansion of the palm oil industry	Figures illustrating the rapid expansion of the palm oil industry	Paragraph B, L9-11	"From a mere two million tonnes of palm oil being produced annually globally 50 years ago, there are now around 60 million tonnes produced every single year..."
Q19	Vital role in lifting people out of poverty	Economic justification for not opposing the palm oil industry	Paragraph E, L1-2	"One response to the boycott movement has been the argument for the vital role palm oil plays in lifting many millions of people in the developing world out of poverty."
Q20	Endangered species such as Sumatran orangutan	Creatures affected by the establishment of oil palm plantations	Paragraph C, L1-3	"Endangered species – most famously the Sumatran orangutan, but also rhinos, elephants, tigers, and numerous other fauna – have suffered from the unstoppable spread of oil palm plantations."
Q23	Solid	Advantage of palm oil for manufacturers	Paragraph A, L4-5	"One advantage of palm oil for manufacturers is that it stays solid even when not refrigerated."
Q24	Sumatran orangutan	Animal suffering from habitat loss due to oil palm plantations	Paragraph C, L2-3	"Endangered species – most famously the Sumatran orangutan..."
Q25	Carbon stocks	RSPO criterion for sustainable palm oil certification	Paragraph G, L5-6	"The RSPO insists upon... regular assessment of carbon stocks, among other criteria."
Q26	Biodiversity	Potential restoration of biodiversity in oil palm plantation areas	Paragraph H, L5-8	"Reintroducing the bird’s nest fern into oil palm plantations could potentially allow these areas to recover their biodiversity..."

READING PASSAGE 3

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

Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers

Question	Answer	Keywords	Location	Text
Q27	A	original explanation	Paragraph 1, L6-7	"is a compilation of chapters commenting (not explain) on different aspects of New York’s urban development."
Q28	B	potential problem	Paragraph 3, L6-7	"no skyscraper interested in performing “slum clearance’” which is the main problem"
Q29	C	too specialized	Paragraph 4, L2-3	"it is probably more technical (too specialized) than would be preferred by a general audience (readers)."
Q30	D	limited appeal	Paragraph 8, L2-3	"Chapter eight contains (some parts) lengthy discussions of urban economic theory that may serve as a distraction (limited appeal) to readers primarily interested (limited people)."
Q31	C	nature of research	Paragraph 9, L2-3	"The data work that went into these estimations is particularly impressive"
Q32	No	lacks interest	Paragraph 2, L1-2	"fascinating account of how the New York landscape in 1609"
Q33	Yes	prepares the reader	Paragraph 3	"Both chapters are informative and well researched and set the stage for the economic analysis that comes later in the book."
Q34	Not Given	lack of amenities	-	-
Q35	No	concentrate around the harbour	Paragraph 4	"Most of these enclaves were located on the least valuable land, between the industries located on the waterfront and the wealthy neighborhoods bordering Central Park."
Q36	H	absence of skyscrapers	Paragraph 7, L1-3	"Chapter seven tackles the 'bedrock myth,' the assumption that the absence of bedrock close to the surface between Downtown and Midtown New York does not explain why skyscrapers are absent from (for skyscrapers not being built between the two urban centers)."
Q37	D	not prohibitively high	Paragraph 7, L3-4	"Barr argues that while deeper bedrock does increase foundation costs, these costs were neither prohibitively high."
Q38	I	overall cost	Paragraph 7, L4-5	"nor were they large compared to the overall cost of building a skyscraper (total expenditure)."
Q39	B	how foundations are built	Paragraph 7, L5-6	"What I enjoyed the most about this chapter was Barr’s discussion of how foundations are actually built."
Q40	F	associated risks	Paragraph 7, last 2 lines	"technological history discusses not only how caissons work but also the dangers involved (associated risks). The chapter is well researched but relatively easy to understand."