BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 585

Table of Contents

IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 585 – READING PASSAGE – 3

IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 585

READING PASSAGE – 3

The Strange Sad Fate of the honey Bee

The world is losing the honey bee at an alarming rate – a trend that could have implications for us all …

A. Thousands of American beehives were recently found to be almost empty and devoid of bees. They were thought to be victims of a malady called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). The problem has not been limited to America. Over the past few years, large numbers of colonies have been wiped out in Canada, South America, Asia and Europe.

B. The malady occurs when most of the bees suddenly disappear from the hive leaving it with only queens, eggs or pupae (‘the brood’) and a few immature workers still remaining. The vanished bees – strangely never found – are thought to die singly far from home. The phenomenon is odd for various reasons. Firstly, bees never usually abandon a hive until the brood has hatched; their sophisticated in-built navigation system allows them to forage up to three miles from the hive and return safely.

Secondly, when a colony dies, the honey left behind is usually raided by bees from other hives, yetthese bees avoid the hives completely. And lastly, the incidence of the malady is very erratic. Some beekeepers report heavy losses while their neighbours maintain healthy hives.

IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST

C. If honey bee populations continue to decline, it will, of course hit honey supplies. But far more disturbing is the effect it could have on flora. Most flowers rely on animals to pollinate them, and the honey bee is nature’s premier pollinator, with a body perfectly designed to collect and spread pollen and a work ethic to match: one big colony containing up to 60,000 worker bees, can pollinate millions of flowers in a day. In a spiral of decline, as bee numbers drop, the remaining islands of wild flowers may not be pollinated and some could simply die out. Especially at risk are rare varieties and the insect and animal species that depend on them.

D. Scientists remain puzzled by the decline in bee populations. However, they believe that there has been widespread damage to the bees’ immune system. In America, bees are hauled around the country to pollinate crops. Their environment is altered to keep them working, by moving them to warmer spots in winter so that the queen keeps laying and producing more workers. One theory is that the bees’ immune systems get damaged in the process. Another sees the cause in the disruptive effects of climate change, while others again trace it to one of two well-known bee diseases.

When honey bees are kept as a business (for honey production or hired out to fruit farmers as pollinators) their colonies are kept close together. This allows disease to spread easily despite them being treated with antibiotics to keep them producing. In stressed conditions bees may more easily fall victim to viruses that normally would do them little harm. More fancifully, some even blame mobile phones, which are said to interfere with bees’ navigation systems. The impact of all such factors (except the last) is exacerbated by the shrinking size of the gene pool – most beekeepers having filled their apiaries with just one type of bee from Italy, renowned for its honey and gentleness.

IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST

E. Bees have also suffered from pesticides sprayed on crops and in open spaces such as parks. The pesticides attack the nervous system and disorientate them, interfering with the bees, vital communication skills – in particular the ‘waggle dance’ they use to tell other workers where nectar and pollen can be found. One such pesticide was banned in France following heavy winter bee deaths.

F. The first recorded case of disappearing bees was in America 150 years ago, and, ever since, large numbers have vanished at regular intervals throughout North America, Europe and Australia. These losses have been given many different names: disappearing disease, spring dwindle, May disease or autumn collapse. In America, there were 5.9 million maintained colonies in 1947; today there are only 2.44 million. If bees keep disappearing at this rate, it is estimated that there will be none left in America by 2035.

G. ‘If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe’ the mathematician Albert Einstein is reputed to have said, ‘then man would only have four years of life left’. This may be an exaggeration but scientists believe that if the honey bee did disappear, farming as we know it would collapse. More than 90 commercial crops -from apples, peaches and citrus fruits to strawberries and blackberries, to nuts, carrots, broccoli and onions – are pollinated by bees. So is cotton and much livestock fodder, such as clover.

IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST

A study by Cornell University found that bees helped produce around 60 billion dollars worth of food around the world – fifteen billion dollars in the US alone, where many commercial beekeepers take their hives on a five month tour of the country, pollinating California’s lucrative almond trees, for instance, then Florida’s citrus trees and Maine’s blueberries. Without bees, wind-pollinated grasses would continue to grow, but flowers and vegetable beds would be devastated, and there would be far less food for birds and mammals to eat.

It has been calculated that the ‘service’ that bees provide is essential for the production of one in three of our mouthfuls of food. In southern Sichuan in China, where honey bees have been wiped out, pear trees have to be pollinated by hand – an extremely labour intensive business.

Questions 27-33

The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Which paragraph contains the fallowing information?

Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

27. the contribution bees make to the survival of less common plant species

28. one unlikely explanation for the decline in bee numbers

29. a definition of the killer condition affecting bees

30. one example of an alternative way to pollinate crops

31. the damaging effects of chemicals on bees

32. several names previously used to refer to the fall in bee population

33. some puzzling features of Colony Collapse Disorder

IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST

Questions 34-36

Complete the sentence with ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the reading passage for each answer.

34. There may be a link between the ability of bees to return to their hives and exposure to frequencies from …………………. .

35. Many crops including fruit and vegetables rely on bees and these include food such as …………………. which cows eat.

36. In total, bees contribute approximately $ …………………. to global food production.

Questions 37-40

Which FOUR factors linked to the decrease in bee numbers are mentioned in the text? Choose FOUR letters A-G and write them in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

A. climate change

B. genetically modified crops

C. hive invasion by insects

D. lack of genetic biodiversity

E. malnutrition

F. migratory beekeeping

G. pesticides

SEE MORE POSTS>>