You are going to read an extract from a magazine article. Six paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-G the one which fits each gap (1-6). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
For the past 28 years Don Merton has battled to save the kakapo, New Zealand’s extraordinary green parrot. In 1995, when numbers fell to 50, it looked like the end for this bird. But this year they staged a comeback. The last survivors of this unique species have produced 26 chicks — more than in the whole of the past two decades. Instead of having no future at all, the kakapo suddenly has prospects.
1
Males gather at an arena to compete for females. After mating, the females raise their young alone. The kakapo is important because it has combinations of features found in no other bird,’ says Merton, the longest serving member of the National Kakapo team. Unfortunately, its peculiarities have also made it vulnerable. Before man arrived, their only enemies were predatory birds and the kakapo’s green plumage provided perfect camouflage against the vegetation.
2
Then after years of searching, Merton and a team from the New Zealand Wildlife Service discovered a single bird in a valley in Fjordland in the far south. It was an old male. Search parties found 17 more — all old males. Three years later, Merton’s team finally uncovered signs of kakapo in the south of New Zealand’s Stewart Island. It turned out to be a colony of 200 birds and some were breeding. ‘We thought the kakapo was safe then,’ says Merton. They were wrong. Cats were killing them at an alarming rate.
3
Merton knew what he had to do. The birds had to breed before it was too late and nothing could jeopardize this. From now on, the team would manage almost every aspect of kakapo life. They laid traps for rats and watched nests 24 hours aday. If anything other than a kakapo entered the nest, a watcher set off a tiny explosive charge that made a small bang, enough to startle intruders. By 1999, all the kakapo had been successfully moved to two islands — Maud Island, and Codfish Island, both free of rats.
4
‘The challenge was to work out a diet and persuade them to eat it,’ says Merton. The team eventually found that kakapo were especially partial to nuts. The birds thrived on the extra food, but still wouldn’t breed. They seemed to be waiting for some special cue. On Maud Island it wasn’t clear what that cue was, but on Codfish island there was no doubt that the birds bred in response to some signal from the rimu tree that alerts them to a coming mast.
5
Armed with this new knowledge, the team was ready to swing into action as soon as they spotted signs of masting on Codfish Island. Last year, it became obvious that the rimu were going to produce a large crop of seeds the next autumn. Merton moved all the adult females to Codfish Island. As the breeding season drew nearer, the kakapo rescue team arrived with electronic monitoring equipment, and spent the next months watching nests throughout the long nights.
6
The result was a large batch of chicks, a remarkable breakthrough, but there are still only 86 kakapo in the world. Do they really have good prospects? Merton is confident they do. ‘As long as we keep using the same techniques, the population will steadily rise,’ he says. ‘The kakapo won’t be extinct in our lifetime.’ A What followed was an intensive rescue operation. During the following 15 years all the kakapo were moved to islands free from cats, stoats or possums. ‘We thought we’d put them out of reach of predators,’ says Merton. Again they were mistaken. They hadn’t realized how dangerous the rats were. Not only did they compete with kakapo for food, they also ate eggs and chicks. It finally came to the point where only 50 kakapo remained.
B In September the team began to put out extra food. ‘We provided enough so the birds could breed but not so much that they’d get fat,’ says Merton. ‘We wanted to keep their weight down to encourage them to produce female chicks.’ In December the males began their booming noises, and the females trekked to the courtship areas to choose a mate, unaware that electronic eyes were watching them.
C The kakapo is nocturnal, looks like an owl, smells sweet and makes some very odd noises — from growls to deep resonant booms. Kakapo can’t fly, but they are excellent climbers. They live a very long time and are the world’s biggest parrots. The kakapo also has a unique breeding system.
D Persuading the birds to breed was the next harder step as this only occurs when certain plants produce large crops of fruit and seeds, an event known as masting. At other times, the birds manage on very little. It’s enough to support their metabolism, but not enough to raise a family. In the past, the kakapo from Fjord land and Stewart Island bred in response to masting by a range of plants including rimu trees. The team hoped with extra food the birds might breed.
E Merton estimates this could take at least 15 years, less if they can trick the birds into breeding more often. ‘We’re looking for whatever it is in rimu that triggers breeding. It’s probably chemical,’ says Merton. ‘Or it might be nutritional.’ The team is currently testing an improved food pellet to see if that works.
F There was nothing the team could do but patiently wait for nature to take its course. They continued with the food programme to ensure the females were in top condition and monitored the males to keep an eye on their numbers. The population remained stable but the team recognized the fact that it was only the rimu tree that would turn things around.
G Once man arrived, bringing with him not only his dogs but rats that could sniff out nests, it was a different story. The rats went for eggs, chicks and even adults. The decline in numbers accelerated once European settlers arrived. They cleared large areas of kakapo habitat and brought more predators — cats, rats, stoats, and possums. By the late 1960s the kakapo was feared extinct.
Ответы: 1C, 2G, 3A, 4D, 5F, 6B
Part 2
You are going to read a set of science book reviews. For questions 7-21, choose from the reviews (A-D). The reviews may be chosen more than once.
In which review are the following mentioned?
7
the warning that the author does not always simplify the subject matter for the reader
8
an admission of past ignorance on the reviewer’s part 9
the subject matter being dealt with in an impressive amount of detail 10
the book having both a narrative and simple academic approach 11
the depressing revelations the book makes about certain areas of its subject matter
12
the book’s combination of established fact and doubt about
13
the subject the reviewer’s sense of satisfaction concerning a personal achievement
14
a comparison between two very different causes of anxiety 15
praise for the author’s clarity of thinking and enthusiasm for the subject 16
a mild criticism about some mistakes which occur in the book
17
the reviewer’s implication that the subject matter deserves more consideration
18
the book’s neutral approach to its subject matter 19
a warning that the conclusions the author draws may be frustrating
20
the fact that opinions on the subject were once based on guesswork
21
the suggestion that this book would be a good starting point for readers This month’s new science books
A Maggie McDonald: Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver
White letters chalked on a blackboard in Sri Lanka are the first things I remember reading. The pleasure of deciphering that first word (C-A-T, of course) remains with me to this day. By age 11, I read a book a day, and at 14 I was being tested by an irritated teacher and school librarian who demanded proof that I was actually reading my library books. But there are only so many authors even the most avid of readers can digest, and some evaded me. Barbara Kingsolver was one. I had her filed in a ‘sentimental nature-lover: must avoid’ category. Friends kept recommending her and a few years ago, I read my first Kingsolver and ditched my ill-founded prejudice. She’s a biologist by training and a wonderful writer. Possessed of an analytical mind, she’s capable of putting it all down with real passion: a rare find. If you haven’t tried her yet, do! Small Wonder is Kingsolver the essayist, elegant and insightful, and a great place to set out from before you tackle her backlist. Here you’ll find the San Pedro river on the edge of survival, the energy bill behind the production of a five-calorie strawberry, and scientist Charles Darwin in all his complexity summed up in a mere four clear paragraphs.
B Sue Bowler: Earthshaking Science by Susan Elizabeth Hough
Anyone who has ever driven an elderly, ailing car knows the feeling: it’s going to break down, but who knows when, where and what part of the system will fail? Predicting earthquakes is much the same. Tidy forecasts of what, when, where and how much it will cost are as rare for quakes as for car repairs, and about as reliable. Have earthquake seismologists failed, then? Susan Elizabeth Hough says not, and Earthshaking Science sets out her case. This book gives us an excellent outline of how, why and where earthquakes happen together with a clear-eyed look at the subject’s inherent uncertainties. This is not a book that proposes simplistic answers. It presents a real picture of a lively research field in all its gritty glory, written with a sharp eye for the absurdities of scientific life. The focus on uncertainty has the paradoxical effect of highlighting the areas in which seismologists are confident, which makes it easier to deal with the ambiguities. Hough includes a careful and informative discussion of the earthquake risk across the US. Although her findings do not make easy reading, given the unexpected changes of intraplate quakes, it is an excellent analysis of what to worry about and where. Overall, this is an intelligent look at a broad field of science that affects many lives. Anyone heading for an earthquake area should buy a copy.
C Adrian Barnett: Zoo by Eric Baratay
What’s the attraction of gazing at captive animals? It’s a good question and others have often sketched out an answer. But in Zoo, Eric Baratay gives us an unprecedented, in-depth answer. He explains why zoos lodge in the human psyche, their place in society, and how they developed over time. Placing them in their social and cultural context, Zoo traces the development of animal collections from medieval bear fights through the menagerie of the French king Louis XIV to modern captive breeding centres. Combining architectural analysis and political history, the author shows that the desire to display our domination over nature has long been a hidden feature of zoos. The text has been translated from the French and in places, not very successfully. A trained biologist on the translation team might have weeded out appalling zoological errors such as describing the gannet as a ‘rare and much sought after’ bird, which it is definitely not. But these are forgivable oversights in a wonderful book that is acute at tracing themes of modern animal husbandry. While the book neither apologizes for nor criticizes the modern zoo, the extensive appendices tell a grim story. They contain a wealth of statistics on the death rate in collections, and the success rate of captive breeding. An absolute must for those interested in zoo history — or anyone fascinated by homosapiens’ changing relationship with our fellow creatures.
D Ben Longstaff: Journey from the Center of the Sun by Jack B. Zirker
Up, down, in or out. If that’s about as much attention as you pay the Sun, you’re ignoring something incredible. Did you know that it loses a million tonnes every second in the form of light alone? That’s just for starters. In journey from the Center of the Sun, Jack Zirker goes on a breakneck trip from its hellish core out into the realm of the planets, explaining as much as possible about our star on the way. His story-meets-textbook approach mainly avoids confusing scientific equations, but enables him to delve into lots of physics from massive sound waves to exploding pieces of sun the size of Asia. Zirker’s explanations are clear and sharp, although don’t expect him to lead you by the hand. You do need to find the patience for a few serious pages of physics and daunting diagrams, but that’s just great news if you want plenty of fascinating details as well as the grand overview. His informal style keeps things moving along swiftly, while balancing the latest findings with background on the pioneers of the field. He shows how solar research has progressed from inspired speculation into a flourishing science.
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Reading Comprehension
Part 1
You are going to read an extract from a magazine article. Six paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-G the one which fits each gap (1-6). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
For the past 28 years Don Merton has battled to save the kakapo, New Zealand’s extraordinary green parrot. In 1995, when numbers fell to 50, it looked like the end for this bird. But this year they staged a comeback. The last survivors of this unique species have produced 26 chicks — more than in the whole of the past two decades. Instead of having no future at all, the kakapo suddenly has prospects.
1
Males gather at an arena to compete for females. After mating, the females raise their young alone. The kakapo is important because it has combinations of features found in no other bird,’ says Merton, the longest serving member of the National Kakapo team. Unfortunately, its peculiarities have also made it vulnerable. Before man arrived, their only enemies were predatory birds and the kakapo’s green plumage provided perfect camouflage against the vegetation.
2
Then after years of searching, Merton and a team from the New Zealand Wildlife Service discovered a single bird in a valley in Fjordland in the far south. It was an old male. Search parties found 17 more — all old males. Three years later, Merton’s team finally uncovered signs of kakapo in the south of New Zealand’s Stewart Island. It turned out to be a colony of 200 birds and some were breeding. ‘We thought the kakapo was safe then,’ says Merton. They were wrong. Cats were killing them at an alarming rate.
3
Merton knew what he had to do. The birds had to breed before it was too late and nothing could jeopardize this. From now on, the team would manage almost every aspect of kakapo life. They laid traps for rats and watched nests 24 hours aday. If anything other than a kakapo entered the nest, a watcher set off a tiny explosive charge that made a small bang, enough to startle intruders. By 1999, all the kakapo had been successfully moved to two islands — Maud Island, and Codfish Island, both free of rats.
4
‘The challenge was to work out a diet and persuade them to eat it,’ says Merton. The team eventually found that kakapo were especially partial to nuts. The birds thrived on the extra food, but still wouldn’t breed. They seemed to be waiting for some special cue. On Maud Island it wasn’t clear what that cue was, but on Codfish island there was no doubt that the birds bred in response to some signal from the rimu tree that alerts them to a coming mast.
5
Armed with this new knowledge, the team was ready to swing into action as soon as they spotted signs of masting on Codfish Island. Last year, it became obvious that the rimu were going to produce a large crop of seeds the next autumn. Merton moved all the adult females to Codfish Island. As the breeding season drew nearer, the kakapo rescue team arrived with electronic monitoring equipment, and spent the next months watching nests throughout the long nights.
6
The result was a large batch of chicks, a remarkable breakthrough, but there are still only 86 kakapo in the world. Do they really have good prospects? Merton is confident they do. ‘As long as we keep using the same techniques, the population will steadily rise,’ he says. ‘The kakapo won’t be extinct in our lifetime.’ A What followed was an intensive rescue operation. During the following 15 years all the kakapo were moved to islands free from cats, stoats or possums. ‘We thought we’d put them out of reach of predators,’ says Merton. Again they were mistaken. They hadn’t realized how dangerous the rats were. Not only did they compete with kakapo for food, they also ate eggs and chicks. It finally came to the point where only 50 kakapo remained.
B In September the team began to put out extra food. ‘We provided enough so the birds could breed but not so much that they’d get fat,’ says Merton. ‘We wanted to keep their weight down to encourage them to produce female chicks.’ In December the males began their booming noises, and the females trekked to the courtship areas to choose a mate, unaware that electronic eyes were watching them.
C The kakapo is nocturnal, looks like an owl, smells sweet and makes some very odd noises — from growls to deep resonant booms. Kakapo can’t fly, but they are excellent climbers. They live a very long time and are the world’s biggest parrots. The kakapo also has a unique breeding system.
D Persuading the birds to breed was the next harder step as this only occurs when certain plants produce large crops of fruit and seeds, an event known as masting. At other times, the birds manage on very little. It’s enough to support their metabolism, but not enough to raise a family. In the past, the kakapo from Fjord land and Stewart Island bred in response to masting by a range of plants including rimu trees. The team hoped with extra food the birds might breed.
E Merton estimates this could take at least 15 years, less if they can trick the birds into breeding more often. ‘We’re looking for whatever it is in rimu that triggers breeding. It’s probably chemical,’ says Merton. ‘Or it might be nutritional.’ The team is currently testing an improved food pellet to see if that works.
F There was nothing the team could do but patiently wait for nature to take its course. They continued with the food programme to ensure the females were in top condition and monitored the males to keep an eye on their numbers. The population remained stable but the team recognized the fact that it was only the rimu tree that would turn things around.
G Once man arrived, bringing with him not only his dogs but rats that could sniff out nests, it was a different story. The rats went for eggs, chicks and even adults. The decline in numbers accelerated once European settlers arrived. They cleared large areas of kakapo habitat and brought more predators — cats, rats, stoats, and possums. By the late 1960s the kakapo was feared extinct.
Ответы: 1C, 2G, 3A, 4D, 5F, 6B
Part 2
You are going to read a set of science book reviews. For questions 7-21, choose from the reviews (A-D). The reviews may be chosen more than once.
In which review are the following mentioned?
7
the warning that the author does not always simplify the subject matter for the reader
8
an admission of past ignorance on the reviewer’s part 9
the subject matter being dealt with in an impressive amount of detail 10
the book having both a narrative and simple academic approach 11
the depressing revelations the book makes about certain areas of its subject matter
12
the book’s combination of established fact and doubt about
13
the subject the reviewer’s sense of satisfaction concerning a personal achievement
14
a comparison between two very different causes of anxiety 15
praise for the author’s clarity of thinking and enthusiasm for the subject 16
a mild criticism about some mistakes which occur in the book
17
the reviewer’s implication that the subject matter deserves more consideration
18
the book’s neutral approach to its subject matter 19
a warning that the conclusions the author draws may be frustrating
20
the fact that opinions on the subject were once based on guesswork
21
the suggestion that this book would be a good starting point for readers This month’s new science books
A Maggie McDonald: Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver
White letters chalked on a blackboard in Sri Lanka are the first things I remember reading. The pleasure of deciphering that first word (C-A-T, of course) remains with me to this day. By age 11, I read a book a day, and at 14 I was being tested by an irritated teacher and school librarian who demanded proof that I was actually reading my library books. But there are only so many authors even the most avid of readers can digest, and some evaded me. Barbara Kingsolver was one. I had her filed in a ‘sentimental nature-lover: must avoid’ category. Friends kept recommending her and a few years ago, I read my first Kingsolver and ditched my ill-founded prejudice. She’s a biologist by training and a wonderful writer. Possessed of an analytical mind, she’s capable of putting it all down with real passion: a rare find. If you haven’t tried her yet, do! Small Wonder is Kingsolver the essayist, elegant and insightful, and a great place to set out from before you tackle her backlist. Here you’ll find the San Pedro river on the edge of survival, the energy bill behind the production of a five-calorie strawberry, and scientist Charles Darwin in all his complexity summed up in a mere four clear paragraphs.
B Sue Bowler: Earthshaking Science by Susan Elizabeth Hough
Anyone who has ever driven an elderly, ailing car knows the feeling: it’s going to break down, but who knows when, where and what part of the system will fail? Predicting earthquakes is much the same. Tidy forecasts of what, when, where and how much it will cost are as rare for quakes as for car repairs, and about as reliable. Have earthquake seismologists failed, then? Susan Elizabeth Hough says not, and Earthshaking Science sets out her case. This book gives us an excellent outline of how, why and where earthquakes happen together with a clear-eyed look at the subject’s inherent uncertainties. This is not a book that proposes simplistic answers. It presents a real picture of a lively research field in all its gritty glory, written with a sharp eye for the absurdities of scientific life. The focus on uncertainty has the paradoxical effect of highlighting the areas in which seismologists are confident, which makes it easier to deal with the ambiguities. Hough includes a careful and informative discussion of the earthquake risk across the US. Although her findings do not make easy reading, given the unexpected changes of intraplate quakes, it is an excellent analysis of what to worry about and where. Overall, this is an intelligent look at a broad field of science that affects many lives. Anyone heading for an earthquake area should buy a copy.
C Adrian Barnett: Zoo by Eric Baratay
What’s the attraction of gazing at captive animals? It’s a good question and others have often sketched out an answer. But in Zoo, Eric Baratay gives us an unprecedented, in-depth answer. He explains why zoos lodge in the human psyche, their place in society, and how they developed over time. Placing them in their social and cultural context, Zoo traces the development of animal collections from medieval bear fights through the menagerie of the French king Louis XIV to modern captive breeding centres. Combining architectural analysis and political history, the author shows that the desire to display our domination over nature has long been a hidden feature of zoos. The text has been translated from the French and in places, not very successfully. A trained biologist on the translation team might have weeded out appalling zoological errors such as describing the gannet as a ‘rare and much sought after’ bird, which it is definitely not. But these are forgivable oversights in a wonderful book that is acute at tracing themes of modern animal husbandry. While the book neither apologizes for nor criticizes the modern zoo, the extensive appendices tell a grim story. They contain a wealth of statistics on the death rate in collections, and the success rate of captive breeding. An absolute must for those interested in zoo history — or anyone fascinated by homosapiens’ changing relationship with our fellow creatures.
D Ben Longstaff: Journey from the Center of the Sun by Jack B. Zirker
Up, down, in or out. If that’s about as much attention as you pay the Sun, you’re ignoring something incredible. Did you know that it loses a million tonnes every second in the form of light alone? That’s just for starters. In journey from the Center of the Sun, Jack Zirker goes on a breakneck trip from its hellish core out into the realm of the planets, explaining as much as possible about our star on the way. His story-meets-textbook approach mainly avoids confusing scientific equations, but enables him to delve into lots of physics from massive sound waves to exploding pieces of sun the size of Asia. Zirker’s explanations are clear and sharp, although don’t expect him to lead you by the hand. You do need to find the patience for a few serious pages of physics and daunting diagrams, but that’s just great news if you want plenty of fascinating details as well as the grand overview. His informal style keeps things moving along swiftly, while balancing the latest findings with background on the pioneers of the field. He shows how solar research has progressed from inspired speculation into a flourishing science.
