Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 477
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 477 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 477
READING PASSAGE – 2
Plastic-eating Worms
When amateur beekeeper Federica Bertocchini put some wax worms in a plastic bag, she never imagined that she was about to discover something that could potentially save the planet. Professor Bertocchini had been trying to cope with one of the problems facing beekeepers. She had an infestation of wax worms on her honeycombs.
Wax worms are in fact the caterpillars of wax moths and they are a parasite to bee colonies. Once they get inside a beehive, the moths lay their eggs. Then, when these hatch, the wax worms feed on the cocoons, pollen and beeswax. As they chew through the honeycomb, they can contaminate and spill the honey. The damage they do can also be a serious problem for the bee larvae and some may die because of it.
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Faced with this problem, Professor Bertocchini had put the wax moths that had infested her beehive in a supermarket plastic bag thinking that it would contain them. However, when she saw the plastic bag again, she noticed that it was covered in holes where the wax worms seemed to be literally eating their way out of it.
Fortunately, Professor Bertocchini works as an evolutionary biologist at the Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology of Cantabria (CSIC), Spain. As soon as she saw the holes in the plastic, she knew she had discovered something very exciting. She was also well placed to investigate. To test this further, Professor Bertocchini carried out an experiment with Paolo Bombelli and Christopher Howe from Cambridge University.
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For the experiment, the scientists selected approximately 100 wax worms and introduced them to a selection of own-brand supermarket plastic bags. They then watched and recorded what happened. After just 40 minutes, holes had started to appear in the plastic bags and in 12 hours, the worms had made a considerable reduction in the amount of plastic.
What was exciting for Professor Bombelli was the fact that he could already imagine the potential impact the findings might have on waste management. And rather than relying on the appetite of wax worms to eat through plastic, he realised that the next job was to analyse the enzymes* that were breaking down the plastic. If the reduction in plastic were due to a single enzyme, it is likely that this enzyme could be produced using biotechnology. It could then be used as a weapon to tackle the world’s ever-increasing mountain of plastic waste.
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Much of this plastic waste ends up in our water systems. Figures suggest that a minimum of 5-13 million tonnes of plastic finds its way into our oceans every year and experts have warned that, by as early as 2050, there could be more plastic than wildlife in our oceans.
One significant location of plastic waste is The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is the name given to a place in the Pacific Ocean where a huge amount of plastic has collected. The patch actually stretches from the western coast of North America to Japan. The garbage patch is contained within the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre – a gyre being a circular system of sea currents brought about by wind patterns and the Earth’s rotation.
Environmentalists like Sarah Willis are understandably concerned about the huge amount of plastic in the oceans and the effect it has on wildlife. There are more and more cases of wildlife being affected by rubbish,’ she says. “Recently a whale was found off the coast of Norway with 30 plastic bags in its stomach. When it was found, it was very malnourished due to the fact that it had so much plastic in its body.”
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Around the world, there have been government efforts to do something about plastic waste. There are recycling initiatives in place, but although many waste management companies collect plastics, they are notoriously difficult to recycle. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade, so one of the only ways to deal with many plastics up until now has been to burn them, which in turn produces toxic gases and CO2.
Many countries have introduced a charge for plastic bags, to try to cut down the amount that are used. There are also incentives for companies to create alternative packaging. Both these measures have had an impact on the number of plastic bags used, but there is still a great deal of plastic packaging in use around the world.
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Countries that are big consumers of plastic, such as China, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, recently made a promise at a UN Oceans summit to keep plastics out of the sea. Environmental expert Robert Wang sees this as a step in the right direction. “It’s a good start, however, with such a big problem to solve, the discovery of the wax worm’s appetite for plastic is very exciting. In addition to our efforts to try to stop the flow of plastic, this could be nature’s way of cleaning up the planet.”
Questions 14-18
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
How Wax Worms Affect Beehives
The 14…………… enter the beehive and lay their eggs on the honeycombs.
The eggs 15…………….. , producing wax worms.
In the hive, the wax worms eat beeswax, cocoons and 16………….
The worms may cause honey to 17……………….. from the honeycomb.
In addition, damage to the honeycomb may mean that some of the bee larvae 18……………
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Questions 19-22
Look at the following statements (Questions 19-22) and the list of people.
Match each statement with the correct person.
Write the correct letter A – E.
19. He/she wanted to find out which chemical substance was being used in a process.
20. He/she suggests that the wax worm discovery can be used in combination with current waste management strategies.
21. He/she gives a specific example of plastic waste’s negative effect on nature.
22. He/she made a discovery by accident.
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List of People
A. Professor Bertocchini
B. Professor Bombelli
C. Christopher Howe
D. Sarah Willis
E. Robert Wang
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Questions 23-26
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
23. In the experiment, how long was it before the researchers could see holes in the bags?
24. What exactly was found in the stomach of a whale?
25. In addition to CO2, what does burning plastic produce?
26. Which environment have several countries promised to protect against plastics?
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ANSWERS
14. WAX MOTHS
15. HATCH
16. POLLEN
17. SPILL
18. DIE
19. B
20. E
21. D
22. A
23. 40 MINUTES
24. 30 PLASTIC BAGS
25. TOXIC GASES
26. (THE) SEA/OCEANS
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