Paper 1, Part 4
Date: 2015-10-07; view: 1016.
Exam Focus
In Paper 1, Part 4 you have to read a text and answer seven questions, choosing the correct answer from four options. Here is a procedure to follow for this task.
- Read through the text to get an overall impression of what kind of text it is. (e.g. fiction or non-fiction) and what it is about.
- Look at each question or stem – not the four options – and find the answer or completion in the text.
- Read the options and find the one that is closest to the information in the text.
- Read the text again and check all your answers.
| Tearing up the map of creation 1 A big fish is about o swim away forever. The barndoor skate, Raja Levis, seems close to extinction. In 1951 research ships found it in ten per cent of all trawls in the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland. Over the last 20 years, none at all have been caught there. The fish grows to a metre across, not something you would miss if you were looking out for it. But nobody was. If something the size of a barn door could slip away without being missed, the fate of little known species is likely to be worse. 2 The things that make life possible are barely visible. Laboratory experiments based on small, artificial worlds keep demonstrations that diversity is life's strongest card. The recycling of air and water and plant nutrients is the business of little creatures most of us never notice. The food we eat, the medicines we take and the tools we use have been fashioned for us by 500 million years of evolution. Yet we know practically nothing about most of them. All the evidence is that humans are extinguishing other life forms on an epic scale. But there are probably only about 7,000 experts – they are called taxonomists – on the whole planet with the authority to distinguish species one from another. Most are in the wrong places. And few have been getting much encouragement. Without them we cannot even begin arguing. 3 The enormous task of identifying and classifying the species that exist on our planet was begun in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, the great Swedish taxonomist. Over the next 240 years, French and British natural historians followed suit, establishing a local habitation and name for each of about 1.7 or 1.8 million species. With no central catalogue or inventory, the same species was sometimes recorded under one identify in one country and under an entirely separate name in another, but even when these double entries were taken out, the number was still about 1.4 million. 4 Then researches began to look a little harder. They spread nets under trees, dusted them with insecticide and counted just the arthropods* (including insects) that fell out. The numbers astonished them. When they reached 50,000, they started to get alarmed: by that reckoning there might be 20 million species to be described, rather than two million. What was true for the Amazon rainforest turned out to be equally true for coral reefs. Mangrove swamps and the great plains of Africa. 5 But taxonomists are oppressed by something darker then the task of counting. What is going on now is described, quite calmly, as ‘the sixth great extinction'. The fossil record shows a pattern of evolution and extinction, with species continuously evolving, flourishing and expiring as individuals are born, develop and die. Imposed on this hubbub of appearance and disappearance is a series of dramatic happenings: mass disappearances, followed by new beginnings, at least five times in the past 500 million years. 6 The last of these was 65 million years ago, when a 10-kilometre asteroid whacked into the Yucatan in Mexico. The change now is less dramatic but no less significant. According to some theorists, half of all the creatures with which humans share the planet could be on the verge of extinction, about to steal away into the eternal night simply because their homes are being destroyed. By man. The world's dwindling tropical forests could be losing creatures at a conservative estimate of 27,000 a year – three creatures an hour. While the precision of these figures is disputed, the truth behind them is not. Crude counts confirm that many of the big mammal groups and a tenth of all flowering plants could be about to disappear, and a tenth of all birds on the planet are seriously endangered. But 99 per cent of creation is less than 3 mm long. Most of the smaller species will be gone before scientists ever find out they were here. 7 There is a case for biodiversity: everyone recognizes it. A landscape without birds and wild flowers is poorer. There could also be billions of dollars worth of useful, exploitable knowledge to be gained from almost unknown creatures. Why do barnacles not grow on starfish? Because the starfish secrete a natural anti-fouling paint. Why do arctic fish not freeze? Because they have antifreeze fluid to keep blood circulating. Last years Cornell scientists calculated that if humans had to pay for the services they received free from nature – pollination, water purification, crop pest control, that sort of thing – the bill would be $2.9 million annually. 8 Our fellow creatures are kind of map of creation. Their preservation is clearly both a duty and a matter of naked human self-interest. But biodiversity cannot be preserved unless it can be understood, and it cannot be understood unless its components are identified. In the meantime, our massacre of these species could have baleful consequences for Planet Earth. |
*e.g. crabs, spiders, insects
Using this procedure, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.
1 The case of the barndoor skate is particularly significant because
A it disappeared relatively quickly.
B its disappearance was not noticed.
C it is a well-known species
D it is almost extinct.
(HINT: All the answers give information that is mentioned in the text, but only one answer fits the question stem correctly. Here you are reading for the main idea in a paragraph.)
2‘Without them we cannot even begin arguing.' (para 2) What does the writer suggest we should be arguing about?
A the number of different species we are destroying
B the chances of species surviving in different places
C the difference between laboratory experiments and the real world
D the work that should be done by taxonomists
(HINT: This question tests both reference – who or what does ‘them' refer to in the sentence quoted – and implication. For both these you need to look back through paragraph 2.)
3 One drawback of the first inventories of species was that
A lack of cross-checking let to inaccurate figures.
B language problem led to confusion over names.
C the same species were recorded in different countries.
D different species were sometimes classified as similar.
(HINT: Several answers may be true on their own but only one completes the stem correctly.)
4 What is the writer's main point in paragraph 4?
A Most new species are in remote parts of the world.
B Research procedures may damage the environment.
C The majority of species are still to be classified.
D Some species have been insufficiently studied.
(HINT: This question tests your understanding of implication. All the statements could be true, but only one develops the line of argument.)
5 What does the writer say in paragraphs 5 and 6 about the ‘sixth great extinction'?
A It is part of a natural cycle.
B It is more serious than the previous one.
C It threatens the survival of the human race.
D It is destroying known and unknown species.
(HINT: Do not allow your own opinions to mislead you. You need to check carefully to find out what is wrong with the three distractors.)
6Why does the writer mention starfish and arctic fish in paragraph 7?
A They are threatened by pollution.
B They benefit the environment without costing anything.
C They have features which humans could exploit.
D They are examples of biodiversity.
(HINT: In this type of question, all the answer could be true, but only one reflects the writer's purpose in this part of the text. Which explanation gives the general point that the writer is making?)
7 What is the general tone of this article?
A concerned B objective C critical D despairing
(HINT: Here you need to think about the overall impression given of the writer's attitude to the topic. Remember that you are evaluating the writer's attitude, not your own. You should consider both the content and the language used.)
Exam Strategy
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