Cambridge 20 Reading Test 1 - Answers With Explanation

1. "It is the world's only flightless parrot." If it's the only one, no other parrot shares that trait — FALSE.

2. "Kakapo breed in summer and autumn, but only in years when food is plentiful." That rules out every year — FALSE.

3. "Males play no part in incubation or chick-rearing — females alone incubate eggs and feed the chicks." FALSE.

4. Both settlers and the rats they brought preyed on kakapo, but the passage never says which threat was greater — NOT GIVEN.

5. "Predation by feral cats on Rakiura Island led to a rapid decline in kakapo numbers. As a result, during 1980-97, the surviving population was evacuated to three island sanctuaries." TRUE.

6. The Recovery Plan's intensive management included "rescuing and hand-raising any failing chicks," and the population grew afterward — TRUE.

7. "Their diet including the leaves, roots and bark of trees as well as bulbs, and fern fronds."

8. "The 1-4 eggs are laid in soil, which is repeatedly turned over before and during incubation."

9. "They ate its meat and used its feathers to make soft cloaks."

10. "Introduced species such as deer depleted the remaining forests of food."

11. "In 1980 it was confirmed females were also present."

12. The 1996 Recovery Plan came "together with a specialist advisory group... and a higher amount of funding."

13. A current goal is to "ensure stakeholders continue to be fully engaged in the preservation of the species."

14. Section C: "opportunities are limited as the number of these mature survivors is relatively small" — the research problem caused by having so few old elms to study.

15. Section G sets Russell's environmental case ("they will host wildlife, which is a good thing") against Elliot's concern about "effectively cloning" — a clear difference of opinion.

16. Section B: "in the 70s a second epidemic was triggered by shipments of elm from Canada," carried by beetles hiding in the bark.

17. Section E: "Strong winds from the sea make it difficult for the determined elm bark beetle to attack this coastal city's elm population."

18. Section C: "Once the trunk of the elm reaches 10-15 centimetres or so in diameter, it becomes a perfect size for beetles to lay eggs."

19. Russell: "'The effects are very quick,' says Russell. 'You return in four to six weeks and trees that are resistant show no symptoms, whereas those that are susceptible show leaf loss and may even have died completely.'"

20. Elliot: "'Sometimes the best thing you can do is just give nature time to recover... over time, you might get resistance,' says Elliot."

21. Russell: "'What are the reasons for their survival?' asks Russell... 'I don't see how it can be entirely down to luck.'"

22. Bourne: "'The beetles can just march in if we're not careful, as the threat is right on our doorstep,' says Bourne."

23. Elliot: "'You look at old photographs from the 1960s and it's only then that you realise the impact [elms had]... They were significant, large trees... then they were gone.'"

24. "For centuries, elm ran a close second to oak as the hardwood tree of choice in Britain."

25. "Its wood was used for items such as storage crates and flooring."

26. It "was used to build the keel of the 19th-century sailing ship Cutty Sark."

27. The opening paragraph notes "we are all sometimes required to weigh up information under stressful conditions" — a challenge that applies to everyone.

28. "These ups and downs presented the perfect setting for an experiment on how people's ability to use information changes when they feel under pressure" — their fluctuating stress levels make them ideal subjects.

29. The paragraph opens "This is how we arrived at these results" and then walks through the procedure step by step — describing methodology.

30. "This 'switch' is related to a sudden boost in a neural signal important for learning, specifically in response to unexpected warning signs" — heightened sensitivity to threats.

31. "People are normally quite optimistic — they will ignore bad news... This is what happened when the firefighters were relaxed." They paid little attention to bad news.

32. "They became hyper-vigilant to bad news... and altered their beliefs in response" — they judged bad outcomes more likely.

33. "Stress didn't change how they responded to good news" — their reaction to good news stayed the same regardless of stress.

34. The students "were told they had to give a surprise public speech, which would be judged by a panel, recorded and posted online" — a stress-inducing scenario.

35. In both experiments, once stressed, subjects "became better at processing unrelated, yet alarming, information."

36. "If we observe negative posts, such as complaints about a long queue at the coffee shop, we will in turn create more negative posts." Our tone mirrors what we see — YES.

37. The passage discusses phone checking and stress but never compares phones to other electronic devices — NOT GIVEN.

38. "There is often a wave of alarming information... which individuals become very aware of. But that has the effect of exaggerating existing danger" — people absorb more, not less — NO.

39. "Trips are cancelled, even if the disaster took place across the globe; stocks are sold, even when holding on is the best thing to do" — unnecessary caution — YES.

40. "Positive emotions, such as hope, are contagious too, and are powerful in inducing people to act to find solutions" — YES.