Cambridge IELTS 18 reading test 1 answers with explanation
Reading Passage 1
URBAN FARMING
Urban Farming in Paris
- Vertical tubes are used to grow strawberries………………. and herbs.
lettuces – First paragraph, fourth to sixth line. From identical vertical tubes nearby burst row upon row of lettuces; near those are aromatic herbs , such as basil, sage and peppermint.
- There will eventually be a daily harvest of as much as ……………..… in weight of fruit and vegetables.
1000 kg – Second paragraph, sixth to eight line. When the remaining two thirds of the vast open area are in production, 20 staff will harvest up to 1000 kg of perhaps 35 different varieties of fruit and vegetables, every day.
- It may be possible that the farm’s produce will account for as much as 10% of the city’s …………….…. overall.
(food) consumption- Second paragraph, last three line. But if enough unused space can be developed like this, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t eventually target maybe between 5% and 10% of consumption.
Intensive farming versus aeroponic urban farming
Intensive farming
4. wide range of………………. used
pesticides – Third paragraph, fourth and fifth line. First, I don’t much like the fact that most of the fruit and vegetables we eat have been treated with something like 17 different pesticides,
5. varieties of fruit and vegetables chosen that can survive long ………. .
journeys – third paragraph, third and fourth last lines. that their quality is so poor , because the varieties are selected for their capacity to withstand such substantial journeys.
6. ……………………. receive very little of overall income
producers – third paragraph, ninth-last line. that 80%of the price I pay goes to wholesalers and transport companies, not the producers.
Aeroponic urban farming
7. Produce chosen because of its ………….………..
flavour – fourth paragraph, fourth to fifth line. ’You can select crop varieties for their flavour, not their resistance to the transport and storage chain.
True False Not given
8. Urban farming can take place above or below ground.
True – fifth paragraph, second and third line. Strawberries are being grown in disused shipping containers , mushrooms in underground carparks.
Explanation:- Shipping containers are usually placed above the ground that can be used to grow strawberries while mushrooms in underground carparks. So urban farming can take place both above and below the ground.
9. Some of the equipment used in aeroponic farming can be made by hand.
Not Given – fifth paragraph, third to fith line. Aeroponic farming, he says, is ‘virtuous’. The equipment weighs little, can be installed on almost any flat surface and is cheap to buy.
Explanation:– There is no information about manufacturing of the equipment is given in the paragraph.
10. Urban farming relies more on electricity than some other type of farming.
False – fifth paragraph, last two lines. It is cheap to run, too, consuming a tiny fraction of the electricity used by some techniques.
Explanation:– Rely = depend. A tiny fraction of electricity is used, which means that very less amount of electricity. But the question says urban farming relies more on electricity. So the answer is False.
11. Fruit and vegetables grown on an aeroponic urban farm are cheaper than traditionally grown organic produce.
True – sixth paragraph, first and second line. Produce grown this way typically sells at prices that, while generally higher than those of classic intensive agriculture, are lower than soil-based organic growers.
Explanation:– Fruit and vegetables grown on aeroponic urban farm are expensive than intensive farming (producing a large amount of crops using machines and chemicals) but its prices are less (cheaper) than organically produced crops. So the answer is True.
12. Most produce can be grown on an aeroponic urban farm at any time of the year.
False – sixth paragraph, second and third line. There are limits to what farmers can grow this way , of course , and much of the produce is suited to the summer months.
Explanation:– Much of the produce is suited to the summers months mean that most produce on an aerophonic urban can only be grown summer, not in other months. So the answer is False.
13. Beans take longer to grow on an urban farm than other vegetables.
Not Given – sixth paragraph, sixth-seventh line. And beans tend to take up a lot of space for not much return.
Explanation:– The information about space taken by beans is given. There is no information about how much time they take to grow.
Reading Passage 2
FOREST MANAGEMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA, USA
Which paragraph contains the following information?
14. Bad outcomes for a forest when people focus only on its financial reward
Paragraph- B, first three line and five to eight line. In the past, Pennsylvania landowners were solely interested in the value of their trees as high-quality timber. The norm was to remove the stems of highest quality and leave behind poorly formed trees that were not as well suited to the site where they grew………………………………These trees have lower economic value for traditional timber markets, compete for growth with higher-value trees, shade out desirable regeneration and decrease the health of a stand leaving it more vulnerable to poor weather and disease.
Explanation:- when people cut the high value three, poorly formed trees are left that are weak to cope with poor weather and disease. It also reduces the health of the area covered with similar trees. So, much of the trees does not survive, and it becomes difficult for the forest to survive.
15. Reference to the aspects of any tree that contribute to its worth
Paragraph – A, first three lines. A tree’s ‘value’ depends on several factors including its species, size, form, condition, quality, function and accessibility, and depends on the management goals for a given forest.
Explanation:- Value = Worth. Factors of a tree are its species, size, form, condition, quality, function, accessibility and why such trees are preserved.
16. Mention of the potential use of wood to help run vehicles
Paragraph – C sixth and seventh line. Wood can also be gasified for electrical generation and can even be made into liquid fuels like ethanol and gasoline for lorries and cars.
Explanation:- Wood can be used to run vehicles in several fuel forms such as gasified wood, liquid ethanol and gasoline.
17. Examples of insects that attack trees
Paragraph – E one-fifth line. With the many pests and pathogens visiting forests including hemlock wooly adelgid, Asian longhorned beetle, emerald ash borer, and gypsy moth, to name just a few , it is important to remember that those working in the forests can help ease these issues through cutting procedures.
Explanation:- The name of insects that harm tree are given in this passage.
18. An alternative name for trees that produce low-use wood
Paragraph – B third-fifth line. This practice, called ‘high-grading’ , has left a legacy of ‘low-use wood’ in the forests. Some people even call these ‘junk trees’ and they are abundant in Pennsylvania.
Explanation:– When high quality trees are cut, low quality wood tree are left that are called Junk trees.
Match each purpose with the correct timber cut A, B or C
Write the correct letter A, B,C.
19. To remove trees that are diseased
B. (a Salvage Cut) Paragraph- E, second and third last line. These types of cut reduce the number of sick trees and seek to manage the future spread of a pest problem.
Explanation:- E paragraph has information about Salvage Cut approach. Sick tree = Diseased trees.
20. to generate income across a number of years
C. (a Shelterwood Cut) Paragraph- F, last three line. It can also be used to develop a two-tier forest so that there are two harvests and the money that comes in is spread out over a decade or more.
Explanation:- Two-tier forest is also developed by using Shelterwood Cut approach in which harvest can be done twice, so the income is generated for a number of years as the money spreads out over a decade or more.
21. to create a forest whose trees are close in age
C. (a Shelterwood Cut) Paragraph-F , first four lines. A Shelterwood Cut, which only takes place in a mature forest that has already been thinned several times, involves removing all the mature trees when other seedlings have become established. This then allows the forester to decide which tree species are regenerated. It leaves a young forest where all trees are at a similar point in their growth.
Explanation:- It leaves a young forest where all trees are at the similar point in their age means trees are closer in age or they have the same age.
Choose one word only from the passage.
- Some dead wood is removed to avoid the possibility of ………… .
Fire – Paragraph – G first-second line. Thinnings and dense and dead wood removal for fire prevention also center on the production of low-use wood.
- The …………………. from the tops of cut trees can help improve soil quality.
Nutrients – Paragraph- G third & fourth line. The tops of trees that have been cut down should be left on the site so that their nutrients cycle back into the soil.
- Some damaged trees should be left, as their ………………… provide habitats for a range of creatures.
Cavities – Paragraph- G fifth & sixth line. In addition, trees with many cavities are extremely important habitats for insect predators like woodpeckers, bats and small mammals.
- Some trees that are small, such as ……….…….., are a source of food for animals and insects.
Hawthorn – Paragraph- G, second-last line. For example, many species like hawthorn provide food for wild life.
- Any trees that are …………………… should be left to grow, as they add to the variety of species in the forest.
Rare – Paragraph- G last line. Finally, rare species of a tree in a forest should also stay behind as they add to its structural diversity.
Reading Passage 3
CONQUERING EARTH’S SPACE JUNK PROBLEM
Write the correct letter A-F
- a reference to the cooperation that takes place to try and minimize risk
Paragraph- C, second to fifth line. That means companies, governments and other players in space are collaborating in new ways to avoid a shared threat. International groups such as the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee have developed guidelines on space sustainability.
Explanation:- In this paragraph, it is given that companies, government and other players in space are collaborating (cooperating) to reduce the threat of space junk.
- an explanation of a person’s aims
Paragraph – F, second part first and second line. Jah describes himself as a space environmentalist: ‘I want to make space a place that is safe to operate, that is free and useful for generations to come.’
Explanation:- Moriba Jah has the aim to make the space a safe place to operate that is free and useful for generations to come.
- a description of a major collision that occurred in space
Paragraph – A, second part first to fourth line. Ten years ago, a US commercial Iridium satellite smashed into an inactive Russian communications satellite called COSMOS-2251, creating thousands of new pieces of space shrapnel that now threaten other satellites in low Earth orbit – the zone stretching up to 2000 kilometres in altitude.
- a comparison between tracking objects in space and the efficiency of a transportation system
Paragraph – E, third to last line. planes line up in the sky, landing and taking off close to one another in a carefully choreographed routine. Air-traffic controllers know the location of the planes down to one metre in accuracy. The same can’t be said for space debris. Not all objects in orbit are known, and even those included in databases are not tracked consistently.
Explanation:- In this paragraph, comparison of efficient and accurate Air-traffic system is done with the object tracking in the space. There is no accurate information about the space debris.
- a reference to efforts to classify space junk
Paragraph – B, first part, seventh to last line.
Others are developing taxonomies of space debris-working in measure properties such as the shape and size of the object, so that satellite operators know how much to worry about what’s coming their way.
Explanation:- Taxonomy – give name and divide things in groups (Classify) according to their properties OR the branch of science concerned with the classification.
The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination committee
- The committee gives advice on how the ………………….of space can be achieved.
Sustainability – Paragraph- C third to fifth line. International groups such as the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee have developed guidelines on space sustainability.
- The committee advises that when satellites are no longer inactive, any unused ………………….. or
fuel – Paragraph – C, fifth to seventh line. Those include inactivating satellites at the end of their useful life by venting pressurized materials or left over fuel that might lead to explosions.
- pressurised material that could cause …………..……. should be removed.
explosions – Paragraph- C – fifth to seventh line. Those include inactivating satellites at the end of their useful life by venting pressurised materials or left over fuel that might lead to explosions.
- Holger Krag points out that the operators that become …………………..are unlikely to prioritise removing their satellites from space.
bankrupt – Paragraph- C, from 4th line from the end of C paragraph. Krag worries that problems could increase, despite their best intentions. ‘What happens to those that fail or go bankrupt?
Write the correct letter A, B, C, D.
- Knowing the exact location of space junk would help prevent any possible danger
C (Marlon Sorge) paragraph- D, last three lines. ‘If you knew precisely where everything was, you would always never have a problem’, Marlon Sorge, a space-debris specialist at the Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California.
Explanation:- “You would always never have a problem” mean that it would help prevent any possible danger.
- Space should be available to everyone and should be preserved for the future
D (Moriba Jah) paragraph- F, second part, first & second line. Jah describes himself as a space environmentalist: ‘I want to make space a place that is safe to operate, that is free and useful for generations to come.’
Explanation:- Generations to come = Future. I think the rest is clear.
- A recommendation regarding satellites is widely ignored.
B (Holger Krag) paragraph- C seventh-eleventh line. The intergovernmental groups also advise lowering satellites deep enough into the atmosphere that they will burn up or disintegrate 25 years. But so far, only about half of all missions have abided by this 25-year goal, says Holger Krag , head of the European Space Agency’s space-debris office in Darmstadt, Germany .
Explanation:- “Only about half of all missions have abided by this 25-year goal” means that the recommendation of lowering satellites deep enough into the atmosphere that they will burn or disintegrate is ignored by 50%(big proportion (widely)) of missions.
- There is conflicting information about where some satellites are in space.
D(Moriba Jah) paragraph- F, first part, eight to last line. When Jah enters that number, the database draws two purple lines: the US and Russian sources contain two completely different orbits for the same object. Jah says that it is almost impossible to tell which is correct, unless a third source of information made it possible to cross-correlate.
Explanation:- When Jah searched for an object orbit in the space, he found two different moving paths (orbit) for the same object from different sources (US & Russia), which means conflicting information.
- There is a risk we will not be able to undo the damage that occurs in space.
A (Carolin Frueh), paragraph- B, second part, third-last line. ‘If we go on like this, we will reach a point of no return,’ says Carolin Frueh, an astrodynamical researcher at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Explanation:- ‘If we go on like this, we will reach a point of no return,’ means the damage that occurs in the space will not be reversed(undo).
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