Cambridge IELTS 17 reading test 4 answers with explanation
Reading Passage 1
Bats to the rescue
TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
- Many Madagascan forests are being destroyed by attacks from insects.
False – First paragraph fourth and fifth line. And a key reason for this destruction is that insect pests are destroying vast quantities of what is grown by local subsistence farmers, leading them to clear forest to create new paddy fields.
Explanation:- Forests are not directly destructed (attacked) by insects. Insects are destroying paddy crops, and farmers are clearing forests to create new paddy (rice) fields. Insects are not directly attacking forests.
- Loss of habitat has badly affected insectivorous bats in Madagascar.
False – first paragraph last three lines. but not all species are suffering. In fact, some of the island’s insectivorous bats are currently thriving and this has important implications for farmers and conservationists alike.
Explanation:- Insectivorous bats are thriving (grow or develop), not being affected.
- Ricardo Rocha has carried out studies of bats in different parts of the world.
Not given – Second paragraph’s first three lines. No Such information is given.
- Habitat modification has resulted in indigenous bats in Madagascar becoming useful to farmers.
True – Second paragraph’s last three lines and fourth paragraph’s first two lines. Rocha’s new study shows that several species of bats are giving Madagascar’s rice farmers a vital pest control service by feasting on plagues of insects. And this, he believes, can ease the financial pressure on farmers to turn forest into fields. Co-leading an international team of scientists, Rocha found that several species of indigenous bats are taking advantage of habitat modification to hunt insects swarming above the country’s rice fields.
Explanation:- After habitat modification, Indigenous bat species started acting as pest controllers by eating insects that destroy rice crops.
- The Malagasy mouse-eared bat is more common than other indigenous bat species in Madagascar.
Not given – Fourth paragraph’s last two lines. No such information is given.
- Bats may feed on paddy swarming caterpillars and grass webworms.
True – fifth paragraph’s second and third line. ‘We found that six species of bat are preying on rice pests, including the paddy swarming caterpillar and grass webworm.
Explanation:- Preying = hunt and kill for food.
Complete the table below.
- DNA analysis of bat…………………
Droppings – seventh paragraph’s last line. They next used DNA barcoding techniques to analyse droppings collected from bats at the different sites.
- ate pests of rice, …………….. , sugarcane, nut and fruit
Coffee – eighth paragraph last three lines. The scientists also found indications that the bats were consuming pests of other crops, including the black twig borer (which infests coffee plants), the sugarcane cicada, the macadamia nut-borer, and the sober tabby (a pest of citrus fruits).
- prevent the spread of disease by eating………….and blackflies
Mosquitoes – tenth paragraph last two lines. Malagasy bats feed not just on crop pests but also on mosquitoes – carriers of malaria, Rift Valley fever virus and elephantiasis – as well as blackflies, which spread river blindness.
- they provide food rich in………..
Protein – eleventh paragraph’s first and second line. Rocha points out that the relationship is complicated. When food is scarce, bats become a crucial source of protein for local people.
- the buildings where they roost become……………..
Unclean – eleventh paragraph’s third-fourth line. The bats sometimes roost in buildings, but are not welcomed there because they make them unclean.
- they play an important role in local…………….
Culture – eleventh paragraph’s fourth & fifth line. They are associated with sacred caves and the ancestors, so they can be viewed as beings between worlds, which makes them very significant in the culture of the people.
- farmers should provide special…………….. to support the bat population
Houses – eleventh paragraph’s last two line. ‘With the right help, we hope that farmers can promote this mutually beneficial relationship by installing bat houses.’
Reading Passage 2
Does education fuel economic growth?
Which section (A–F) contains the following information?
- an explanation of the need for research to focus on individuals with a fairly consistent income
E – E paragraph’s second to fourth line. One way to look at whether education causes economic growth is to ‘hold wealth constant’. This involves followings the lives of different people with the same level of wealth over a period of time.
Explanation:- Fairly consistent income = the same level of wealth over a period of time. The research on whether education causes economic growth needs to focus (following) on individuals (different people) with the same level of income over time.
- examples of the sources the database has been compiled from
A – A paragraph’s third to sixth line. It includes court records, guild ledgers, parish registers, village censuses, tax lists and – the most recent addition – 9,000 handwritten inventories listing over a million personal possessions belonging to ordinary women and men across three centuries.
Explanation:- In the beginning of the paragraph, the writer mentions a large database. Then, in the following lines, from the third to the sixth line, the writer explains how the information in the database was collected. The sources include guild ledgers, parish registers, village censuses, tax lists, and over 9,000 handwritten inventories that list more than a million personal possessions of ordinary people from three centuries.
- an account of one individual’s refusal to obey an order
D – D paragraph’s eighth to twelfth line. The database also reveals the case of Juliana Schweickherdt, a 50-year-old spinster living in the small Black Forest community of Wildberg, who was reprimanded in 1752 by the local weavers’ guild for ‘weaving cloth and combing wool, counter to the guild ordinance’. When Juliana continued taking jobs reserved for male guild members, she was summoned before the guild court and told to pay a fine equivalent to one third of a servant’s annual wage.
Explanation:- Weaving cloth and combing wool was only allowed to be done by men, but an old lady, Juliana Schweickherdt, kept doing it despite ordering her to stop this work by local wavers. That is how she refused to obey the orders of the weaver’s guild(a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power).
- a reference to a region being particularly suited to research into the link between education and economic growth
F – F paragraph’s third to fifth line. ‘German-speaking central Europe is an excellent laboratory for testing theories of economic growth,’ she explains. Between 1600 and 1900, literacy rates and book ownership were high and yet the region remained poor.
Explanation:- The central idea of this whole passage is to find a link between education and economic growth. But in a German-speaking area of Europe, between 1600 and 1900, the number of educated people increased, and their book ownership was also high. Despite that, the people of that area remained poor. So, it is the best area to research whether education makes people rich or not.
- examples of the items included in a list of personal possessions
C – C paragraph’s first part, first to fifth line. In the handwritten inventories that Ogilvie is analysing are the belongings of women and men at marriage, remarriage and death. From badger skins to Bibles, sewing machines to scarlet bodices – the villagers’ entire worldly goods are included. Inventories of agricultural equipment and craft tools reveal economic activities; ownership of books and education related objects like pens and slates suggests how people learned.
Example:- Inventory = a complete list of items. The list of personal possessions Ogilvie made for analysis has badger skins, Bibles, sewing machines, scarlet bodices, agriculture equipment, craft tools, books, pens and slates.
Complete the summary below.
Demographic reconstruction of two German communities
- The database that Ogilvie and her team has compiled sheds light on the lives of a range of individuals, as well as those of their…………………, over a 300-year period.
descendants – D paragraph’s first three lines. Ogilvie and her team have been building the vast database of material possessions on top of their full demographic reconstruction of the people who lived in these two German communities. ‘We can follow the same people – and their descendants – across 300 years of educational and economic change,
Explanation:- Descendants = Children or grandchildren
20. For example, Ana Regina and Magdalena Riethmüllerin were reprimanded for reading while they should have been paying attention to a……………………..
sermon – D paragraph’s fifth to sixth line. Ana Regina and Magdalena Riethmüllerin, who were chastised in 1707 for reading books in church instead of listening to the sermon.
Explanation:- Chastise = Rebuke or Reprimand. Ana Regina and Magdalena Riethmüllerin were Chastise for reading books instead of paying attention (listening) to the sermon ( a talk on a religious or moral subject, especially one given during a church service and based on a passage from the Bible).
- There was also Juliana Schweickherdt, who came to the notice of the weavers’ guild in the year 1752 for breaking guild rules. As a punishment, she was later given a………………
fine – D paragraph’s eleven to thirteenth line. When Juliana continued taking jobs reserved for male guild members, she was summoned before the guild court and told to pay a fine equivalent to one-third of a servant’s annual wage.
- Cases like this illustrate how the guilds could prevent……………………..and stop skilled people from working.
innovation – D paragraph’s second-last line. The dominance of guilds not only prevented people from using their skills, but also held back (prevent) even the simplest industrial innovation.
Choose TWO letters, A–E.
23 & 24. Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make about literacy rates in Section B?
B (Literacy rates in Germany between 1600 and 1900 were very good) B paragraph fourth to sixth line. Between 1600 and 1900, England had only mediocre literacy rates by European standards, yet its economy grew fast and it was the first country to industrialise. During this period, Germany and Scandinavia had excellent literacy rates.
Explanation:- Between 1600 and 1900, England had mediocre (not very good) literacy, but Germany had excellent (very good) literacy rates.
E (Economic growth can help to improve literacy rates) B paragraph’s last three line. ‘Modern cross-country analyses have also struggled to find evidence that education causes economic growth, even though there is plenty of evidence that growth increases education,’ she adds.
Explanation:- It is evident that economic growth increase (improve) education (literacy rate).
Choose TWO letters, A–E.
25 & 26. Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make in Section F about guilds in German-speaking Central Europe between 1600 and 1900?
B (They were opposed to people moving to an area for work) F paragraph first part’s last two lines. In villages throughout the region, guilds blocked labour migration and resisted changes that might reduce their influence.
Explanation:- Local guilds blocked (opposed) people moving for labour migration (moving to an area for work).
D (They opposed practices that threatened their control over a trade) F paragraph first part’s fifth to seventh line. It was also the case that local guilds and merchant associations were extremely powerful and legislated against anything that undermined their monopolies.
Explanation:- Local guilds and merchant associations made rules (legislated) against anything (practices) that undermined (threatened/reduced the power) their monopolies (an exclusive control over a service or commodity).
Reading Passage 3
Timur Gareyev – blindfold chess champion
Which paragraph contains the following information?
- a reference to earlier examples of blindfold chess
D – D paragraph’s first three lines. To the uninitiated, blindfold chess seems to call for superhuman skill. But displays of the feat go back centuries. The first recorded game in Europe was in 13th– century Florence.
Explanation:- Blindfold chess feat was the first (earliest) recorded to be held in 13th century Florence.
- an outline of what blindfold chess involves
E – E paragraph second line to ninth line. The nature of the game is to run through possible moves in the mind to see how they play out. From this, regular players develop a memory for the patterns the pieces make, the defences and attacks. ‘You recreate it in your mind,’ said Gareyev. ‘A lot of players are capable of doing what I’m doing.’ The real mental challenge comes from playing multiple games at once in the head. Not only must the positions of each piece on every board be memorised, they must be recalled faithfully when needed, updated with each player’s moves, and then reliably stored again, so the brain can move on to the next board.
Explanation:- How blindfold chess is played is described by Gareyev. He explains possible moves of pieces are stored and recalled in the mind. With every move, the position of pieces is updated in the head. Similarly, several possible games are played in the head, which are updated with the changing position of pieces.
- a claim that Gareyev’s skill is limited to chess
F – F paragraph’s first line to sixth line. The scientists first had Gareyev perform some standard memory tests. These assessed his ability to hold numbers, pictures and words in mind. One classic test measures how many numbers a person can repeat, both forwards and backwards, soon after hearing them. Most people manage about seven. ‘He was not exceptional on any of these standard tests,’ said Rissman. ‘We didn’t find anything other than playing chess that he seems to be supremely gifted at.
Explanation:- In a test of memorizing numbers and pictures, Gareyev performed similarly to other people. Thus, his performance is only exceptional in chess.
- why Gareyev’s skill is of interest to scientists
B – B paragraph’s first to fourth line. But Gareyev’s prowess has drawn interest from beyond the chess-playing community. In the hope of understanding how he and others like him can perform such mental feats, researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) called him in for tests
Explanation:- Gareyev’s prowess (skill or expertise in a particular activity or field) attracted scientists (researchers) to know how he could perform such mental feats(an achievement that requires great courage, skill, or strength).
- an outline of Gareyev’s priorities
H – H paragraph’s first line. For the world record attempt, Gareyev hopes to play 47 blindfold games at once in about 16 hours.
Explanation:- Gareyev’s priority is to play 47 blindfold games at once in 16 hours to make a world record.
- a reason why the last part of a game may be difficult
E – E paragraph’s eighth to eleventh line. First moves can be tough to remember because they are fairly uninteresting. But the ends of games are taxing too, as exhaustion sets in. When Gareyev is tired, his recall can get patchy.
Explanation:- As described in paragraph E, the final stages of the game can be mentally challenging for players as they begin to tire. Due to this exhaustion, Gareyev had difficulty recalling everything he had memorized, making the end of the game more difficult.
TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN
- In the forthcoming games, all the participants will be blindfolded.
False – A paragraph’s first three lines. Next month, a chess player named Timur Gareyev will take on nearly 50 opponents at once. But that is not the hard part. While his challengers will play the games as normal, Gareyev himself will be blindfolded.
Explanation:- All 50 players will play normally (not blindfolded) only Gareyev will be blindfolded while playing against them at once. Hence, False.
- Gareyev has won competitions in BASE jumping.
Not given – A paragraph’s sixth to seventh line. He has a fondness for bright clothes and unusual hairstyles, and he gets his kicks from the adventure sport of BASE jumping.
Explanation:- He gets his kicks (get enjoyment or pleasure) from BASE jumping. No information about winning a competition in BASE Jumping is given.
- UCLA is the first university to carry out research into blindfold chess players.
Not given – B paragraph’s first to fourth line. But Gareyev’s prowess has drawn interest from beyond the chess-playing community. In the hope of understanding how he and others like him can perform such mental feats, researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) called him in for tests.
Explanation:- No such information is give.
- Good chess players are likely to be able to play blindfold chess.
True – E paragraph’s first line. Accomplished players can develop the skill of playing blind even without realizing it.
Explanation:- Accomplished = highly trained or skilled.
Complete the summary below.
How the research was carried out
- The researchers started by testing Gareyev’s…………………;
memory – F paragraph’s first line. The scientists first had Gareyev perform some standard memory tests.
- for example, he was required to recall a string of……………….in order and also in reverse order.
numbers – F paragraph’s second to fourth line. One classic test measures how many numbers a person can repeat, both forwards and backwards, soon after hearing them.
Explanation:- In order and in reverse order = Forward and backward
- Although his performance was normal, scans showed an unusual amount of………..….. within the areas of Gareyev’s brain that are concerned with directing attention.
communication – F paragraph’s ninth and tenth line. the scans found much greater than average communication between parts of Gareyev’s brain
- In addition, the scans raised the possibility of unusual strength in the parts of his brain that deal with………………….input.
visual – G paragraph’s first two lines. It was not the only hint of something special in Gareyev’s brain. The scans also suggest that Gareyev’s visual network is more highly connected to other brain parts than usual.
Explanation:- highly connected = unusual strength
