Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 556
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 556 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 556
READING PASSAGE – 2
WHERE HAVE ALL OUR BIRDS GONE?
People have been listening to skylarks singing in Britain for 10,000 years. But now they, and many other much-loved species, are vanishing fast. David Adam finds out why.
A family of Starlings has chosen a post box for the third year running in an Essex seaside town to raise their young brood.
A. The B1042 that winds from the Bedfordshire town of Sandy towards the village of Potton is a difficult road to cross. Fast and twisty, there are several blind bends where pedestrians must take their lives into their hands. That is trickier than it sounds, for most pedestrians who cross the B1042 already have a pair of binoculars in their hands. The road separates the grand headquarters of the RSPB, home to hundreds of birdwatchers, from some unkempt fields, home to hundreds of watchable birds-hence the regular skips across the tarmac.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
The skips, though, are now less regular for many RSPB staff, for the star attraction of the neighboring fields has flown. Until a year ago, a clutch of woodlark nested there, one of Britain’s rarest birds with just 1,000 or so thought to remain. Then their home was ploughed up and replaced with a giant field of swaying hemp plants. The wood-lark have not been seen since.
B. It is not just the professional birdwatchers of the RSPB who have seen their local landscape transformed. Across Britain, and with little fanfare, the face of the countryside has subtly changed in recent years. Farm fields that stood idle for years under EU schemes to prevent overproduction, such as the one across the road from the RSPB, have been conscripted back into active service. The uncultivated land, previously a haven for wildlife, has been ploughed, and farmers have planted crops such as wheat and barley, with occasional hemp for use in paper and textiles.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
C. As a result, the amount of land available for birds such as the woodlark has halved in the last two years. Without efforts to stem this loss of habitat, conservation experts warn that the countryside of the future could look and sound very different. Starved of insects in the spring and seeds through the winter, the metallic-sounding com bunting and plump grey partridge, formerly one of the most common birds on UK shores, are on the brink.
And the skylark, whose twittering has provided the soundtrack to millions of countryside walks and inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley, in Ode to a Skylark, to praise its “profuse strains of unpremeditated art”, is struggling and could soon vanish from many areas. Numbers fell 53% from 1970 to 2006. “This is not just about birdwatchers. These birds are part of our common heritage,” says Gareth Morgan, head of agriculture policy at the RSPB.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
D. Government figures show that populations of 19 bird species that rely on farmland have halved since serious counting started in the 1970s a decline conservationists blame on intensive farming methods, with insecticide and herbicide sprayed on to monoculture fields show of vibrant hedges. The unmistakable yellowhammer, which likes to sing while perched as a dash of colour on hedges and bushes, has steadily disappeared with the hedges and bushes. And a startling 80% drop across England in 40 years has diluted the shifting Rorschach blots painted on the dusk sky by massed flocks of starling-though urban changes are blamed for this too.
E. Farmland birds may sound a niche problem, and you may think that the rest of the countryside is doing OK, but for most people, farmland is the British countryside. About 75% of Britain is farmed, and about half of that is arable field. Take a train between two UK towns, particularly in eastern counties, and almost all of the countryside you see is farmland.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
F. As Simon Gillings of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) puts it: “For most people, farmland is the countryside and farmland birds are the birds they see.” If birds are struggling, then it is a fair bet that other wildlife is too. “Birds are indicative of other things,” Gillings says. “If birds are declining then what does that say about the plants and insects they rely on? It’s all linked together.”
Questions 14-18
READING PASSAGE 2 has six paragraphs, A-F. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-F from the list of headings below. Write the correct number i-xi in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i. Not only birds suffer
ii. Vanishing of habitats gives rise to the drop in bird species
iii. Cultivating fame fields is profitable for farmers
iv. A niche and minor problem
v. Who should be blamed?
vi. Woodlark and other birds are on the brink
vii. Hedges and bushes are blamed for the reduction
viii. The rapid disappearance of bird species in Britain
ix. The countryside is the farmland
x. A major change in local landscape – more land is cultivated
xi. Farmland is taking an insignificant share
IELTS Academic Reading Test
14. Paragraph B
15. Paragraph C
16. Paragraph D
17. Paragraph E
18. Paragraph F
IELTS Academic Reading Test
Questions 19-22
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter A-F in boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet.
19. a reference to the effects of changes in the cities on birds
20. a sharp drop in the dwelling areas
21. a misconception held about farmland birds
22. other wildlife is equally influenced
IELTS Academic Reading Test
Questions 23-27
Do the following statements agree with the information given in READING PASSAGE 2? In boxes 23-27 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the information
NO if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
23. The RSPB is a very famous international organization in birds conservation.
24. In EU countries farm fields are left uncultivated in order to increase their fertility.
25. The loss of habitats means a more demanding survival for many bird species.
26. In the 1970s governments only counted 19 bird species that depended on farmland.
27. More farm fields are cultivated than usually expected.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
IELTS Academic Reading Test
ANSWERS
14. X
15. II
16. V
17. IX
18. I
19. D
20. C
21. E
22. F
23. NOT GIVEN
24. NO
25. YES
26. NOT GIVEN
27. YES
IELTS Academic Reading Test