BEST IELTS General Reading Test 433

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IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 433 – PASSAGE – 2

IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 433

READING PASSAGE – 2

Read the passage and answer Questions 13-19.

THE SADNESS OF SATURN

If you live in a city and go outside every so often, there’s a decent chance that you might have, unknowingly, walked straight past someone who believes that you have personally laid eyes on Satan. The devil of Christian mythology — the one with the goat horns. Satan isn’t just real: he’s a physical object, a thing with weight and dimensions, directly visible from anywhere in the world. He’s the planet Saturn itself. And on September 15, a tiny, rickety, unmanned spacecraft, sent into orbit 20 years ago by the perishing mortals of Earth on a mission called Cassini-Huygens, collided with the Prince of Hell and burnt into nothingness in its upper atmosphere.

This — the theory that Saturn is the devil incarnate is something of a minority opinion, probably more widely believed than the flat-Earth theory, and less than the hypothesis that we’re ruled by shape-shifting lizards from outer space. But it has some high-profile evangelist.

IELTS General Reading Test

People have always distrusted Saturn. For 5,000 years it’s been a symbol of age and death and misery. But the present-clay theorists of its evil have proof. In its 13-year orbit of the planet (it took seven years for the spacecraft to reach Saturn’s orbit, although it made some stops at other planets along the way), the Cassini mission, collaboration between NASA and the space agency of Italy and the European Union, saw incredible things. The flickering aurora-lights dancing over Saturn’s poles: towers of ice and rock hanging like stalactites from the edge of its rings, vast jets of water vapor escaping from the surface of its moon Enceladus, honeyed sunlight glinting off the lakes of Titan.

Saturn is weird. It has its incredible soaring rings, which have become a kind of signifier of the super lunar universe in general, the first sign to the lonely and Earthbound that this world is stranger and its ways more unknowable than we could ever understand. Saturn emits more radiation than it receives from the sun. It’s the least-dense planet in the solar system, and possibly the oldest; its moons might, contain Earth-like in the buried liquid water of Enceladus or something utterly and unknowably strange, moving in ways that are impossible to imagine, living furiously between the methane skies and ethane seas of Titan.

IELTS General Reading Test

Questions 13-19

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

13. People believe the planet Saturn is a ………………………… like Satan who does comprise physical features and can be witnessed from any point in the world.

14. Human beings launched a spaceship into universe, resulted into ………………………… with the planet with no remains of it.

15. Some preachers are in favor of the idea of Saturn being ………………………… of the devil; however it has less significance as compared to the flat-Earth theory.

16. Planet Saturn has never gained trust among humans due to its characteristics symbolizing bad times, demise and ………………………….

17. Cassini mission, where NASA united with European and ………………………… scientists, beheld spectacular things in outer space.

18. The elevated rings hinted the world is weird and so are more difficult to understand its ………………………… ways.

19. There’s unknown possibility that some particles and gases flow, or own moon ………………………… holding deep fluid where no one gives a thought.

IELTS General Reading Test

Read the passage and answer Questions 20-26.

A Red Nose Bird: Toco Toucan

The Toco Toucan is the one of the most recognizable tropical birds in the Americas. The only non-forest toucan, the Toco Toucan is found along forest edges and in low wet grassland from Guyana south to Argentina, and from central Brazil west to southeastern Peru. Toco Toucans are the largest species of toucan and can be identified by their black body, white bib, red under tail coverts and large red-orange bill. They feed extensively on figs and other fruit, and also occasionally prey on insects and nestling birds. When foraging, these birds travel in small groups in the canopy, gliding in single file from site to site.

These species have striking plumage with a black body, white throat and a blue or orange eye ring. Their most noticeable feature, however, is its huge yellow beak with a black or blue tip, which looks heavy but is incredibly light because the inside is hollow. Toco Toucans are an average of 25 inches long, with their beaks that measure up to 8 inches.

IELTS General Reading Test

When pulled from the nest and hand fed as babies they can eventually become pets. Toco Toucans do however require spacious cages to hop back and forth from because of their active nature and require toys in their cage to prevent boredom. Because of the natural attraction to the colorful and odd bills of toco toucans, tour guides in many South American countries provide trips to see them in their natural habitat. Also, many zoos attempt to preserve the natural beauty of this bird in a safe and people-friendly environment.

They have high fruit diet and sensitivity to hemochromatosis (iron storage disease) makes them difficult for the novice keeper to maintain. Also they fling their fruit so the potential owner should be prepared to clean up dried fruit. Toco Toucans are expensive birds to maintain.

IELTS General Reading Test

A lifespan of 20 years is typically seen in wild toco toucans with a maximum recorded lifespan of 26 years. In captivity, this species of toucan often has a shorter lifespan of approximately 18 years. Toco toucans that have been raised in captivity often experience iron-storage disease, which is sometimes referred to as hemochromatosis. This disease tan lead to an uncomfortable life of the toucan involving emaciation, dyspnea and feather picking and may eventually lead to the death of the bird.

IELTS General Reading Test

Questions 20-24

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS in boxes 20-24 on your answer sheet.

20. They cat fruits as well in ………………………… nature as they do not tend to hunt insects or birds more often.

21. The most striking aspect of Toco Toucan is its long ………………………… beak which creates illusion of being heavy.

22. As zoo keepers provide a secured and natural atmosphere but unnatural habitat can be risky to those who are ………………………… in keeping these beautiful birds.

23. Life of Toucan bird under ………………………… declines due to diseases.

24. Once become a pet. their active nature requires ………………………… to enjoy.

IELTS General Reading Test