Cambridge 12 Reading Test 2 - Answers With Explanation

1. Second paragraph: early skyscrapers "were profligate consumers of energy" — the opposite of designed to minimise consumption — FALSE.

2. Second paragraph: nature "had solved the problem of maintaining stable interior environments across billions of years of evolution" — TRUE.

3. Third paragraph: Pearce "drew on studies of the ventilation systems of termite mounds" for the Eastgate Centre — TRUE.

4. Third paragraph: the design saved "an estimated 10 per cent in construction costs and 35 per cent in energy use" — both costs reduced — TRUE.

5. The passage never compares the Gherkin to earlier buildings inspired by sea creatures — NOT GIVEN.

6. Fourth paragraph: "The Gherkin's aerodynamic form reduces wind pressure at street level compared to a conventional rectangular building" — TRUE.

7. The passage doesn't say the Biomimicry Institute was the first to study nature for architectural solutions — NOT GIVEN.

8. Sixth paragraph: "Not all experts are convinced by the promise of biologically inspired architecture" — directly contradicts the statement — FALSE.

9. Third paragraph: Pearce's design was inspired by "studies of the ventilation systems of termite mounds."

10. Fourth paragraph: the Swiss Re tower is "commonly known as 'the Gherkin.'"

11. Fourth paragraph: its shape "was partly inspired by a sea sponge called Venus' flower basket."

12. Fifth paragraph: desert beetles "harvest water from fog by using the texture of their wing cases."

13. Sixth paragraph: critics note organisms "are self-repairing and self-organising, whereas buildings are static."

14. Paragraph A: farmland, "long regarded as an ecological wasteland... has become a critical habitat for a surprising number of species."

15. Paragraph B: the great bustard "has, in a sense, become a creature of the farmland" — a specific case of farmland becoming vital habitat, in line with the same heading as paragraph A.

16. Paragraph C: "changes in farming practice... have had a disproportionate and often catastrophic impact on biodiversity" — the tension between farming and conservation.

17. Paragraph D: "Governments across Europe have responded to the decline of farmland wildlife with a range of subsidy schemes and incentive programmes."

18. Paragraph E: a "comprehensive review published in 2018 found that well-designed agri-environment schemes... could achieve measurable benefits."

19. Paragraph F: "a group of farmers in the province of Groningen developed their own voluntary conservation scheme" — driven by individuals, not government.

20. Paragraph G: "The economic pressures on farming are intense, and farmers who adopt conservation-friendly practices often do so at a financial cost."

21. Paragraph A says intensification "has been devastating for many wildlife populations" but the whole passage goes on to describe species that have adapted and benefited — not entirely negative — FALSE.

22. Paragraph B: "the Iberian Peninsula supports the world's largest population of great bustards" — TRUE.

23. Paragraph C says farmland supports greater diversity "than many semi-natural habitats" — not all natural habitats — FALSE.

24. Paragraph D: "By 2020, the area of English farmland under agri-environment agreement had reached several million hectares" — TRUE.

25. Paragraph E: "Early evaluations were discouraging: several large-scale studies... found little evidence that the schemes were halting or reversing population declines" — FALSE.

26. Paragraph F describes a "voluntary" scheme but never says whether the government paid the farmers — NOT GIVEN.

27. Paragraph C: infants had "their brain activity... monitored using magnetoencephalography" while hearing IDS and adult-directed speech.

28. Paragraph A: IDS "is found across cultures as diverse as those of North America, East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa."

29. Paragraph E: some researchers argue "what matters is not the acoustic properties of speech, but the responsiveness and contingency of the caregiver's communication."

30. Paragraph D: Kuhl's study found "the amount of IDS they received as infants was a significant predictor of their language abilities several years later."

31. Paragraph F: "infants later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder received significantly less IDS from their caregivers than typically developing infants."

32. Paragraph B: IDS features "more extreme formant frequencies... that make the contrasts between different vowel sounds more salient" — exaggerated contrasts, option C.

33. Paragraph C: "IDS recordings produced significantly stronger and more organised neural responses" than adult-directed speech — option B.

34. Paragraph D: the predictive link held "even after controlling for factors such as parental education and socioeconomic status" — independent of other factors, option A.

35. Paragraph E: "most researchers now take the view that both acoustic properties and interactional responsiveness are important" — option C.

36. Paragraph A: the universality of IDS "has led researchers to suspect that it must serve an important developmental function."

37. Paragraph B: exaggerated formants make vowel contrasts "more salient and easier for infants to distinguish."

38. Paragraph D: mothers using more IDS "tend to have children who acquire vocabulary more rapidly."

39. Paragraph E: what matters, some argue, is "the responsiveness and contingency of the caregiver's communication."

40. Paragraph F: "infants later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder received significantly less IDS."