Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 564
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 564 – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST- 564
READING PASSAGE – 3
DELIGHTS OF MASS TOURISM REACH GALAPAGOS
Never has the discovery of a rat provoked so much alarm. It was only a single creature, but it had no business being on the island of Santa Fe in the isolated Galapagos archipelago, where conservationists now strive to keep foreign wildlife at bay as effectively as hundreds of miles of open ocean did for millions of years. The rat is alleged to have arrived on the MV Discovery, a giant British cruise liner that visited the islands in April.
Today, the ship is due to return to the Galapagos, and arriving with it are 460 paying passengers, protests and a campaign to protect the islands from such mass tourism. Drawn by the unique wildlife and mystique, annual visitors to the archipelago have soared from about 40,000 in the late 1980s to more than 100,000 now.
IELTS General Reading Test
Voyages of Discovery, the cruise company, promises visitors to the islands that The enigmas, secrets and charms of this spectacular and rich landscape are, like a dream, an unequalled adventure just waiting to be discovered. But to environmental campaigners, the ship’s arrival is a nightmare.
Conservationists on the Galapagos have also found swarms of foreign insects on the islands since the liner’s last visit and fear its return today could introduce more alien species that might further disrupt the sensitive eco-systems. The Discovery, the first large cruise ship to have visited the islands, is scheduled to return again this April and twice each year thereafter. Permits recently granted by the Ecuadorian government-the islands are owned by the South American country-could see one cruise ship stop there a month.
IELTS General Reading Test
Leonor Stjepic, director of the Galapagos Conservation Trust, warned that such an acceleration in visitor numbers would overwhelm efforts to keep out pests and disease. The more people that come, the greater the risk of invasive species and the less effective the quarantine system is going to be. With the best will in the world it’s virtually impossible to search a boat that size thoroughly.
Just sheer numbers means it’s much easier for something to slip through. And if we can’t protect the Galapagos then what does it say about the other natural spaces in the world? The Galapagos are not suitable for this kind of mass tourism. The islands just don’t have the infrastructure for that number of people. Tourism has got to be high-value, low volume tourism, Stjepic claims. Before the Discovery’s stopover, almost all visitors to the islands flew direct from the mainland. However, this cruise ship has travelled all the way down the coast of South America and could bring all sorts of things with it.
IELTS General Reading Test
As well as the rat, and the insects, environmentalists say the Discovery’s previous visit left the islands covered in litter, dropped by wealthy tourists who have no idea where they are or the impact their visit may have. Graffiti was scrawled at the visitor centre and one passenger reportedly asked where the local Starbucks was.
The study of the impact of the liner’s first visit was carried out by the local Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos National Park Service. As well as the foreign wildlife, it found that sales for local businesses increased by 5%, a third of what was expected. Infrastructure was overwhelmed, they said, and local tour operators, who take visitors around the different islands, were forced to land large boats on fragile shorelines because elderly cruise passengers were unable to scramble in and out of rubber dinghies.
IELTS General Reading Test
However, David Yellow, managing director of Voyages of Discovery, said the campaigners were speaking from ignorance. He said the firm operated under strict restrictions and carried out an in-depth environmental impact study before it was granted a licence to operate in the Galapagos. He claims that Voyages of Discovery is experienced at operating in environmentally sensitive areas and knows what to do. All passengers are given a lecture before they go ashore and Yellow says they adhere to it.
The Discovery anchored at the island of San Cristobal during its stay, he said, a good 25 miles (40 km) from Santa Fe where the rat was found. Mr Yellow said there was no proof that the graffiti and litter were left by Discovery tourists. “Local people create litter. They are not as sensitive to the environment as the people we take there. There are local people who smoke a cigarette and throw it into the street.”
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 28-34
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
In boxes 28-34 on your answer sheet write
TRUE if the information in the text supports the statement
FALSE if the information in the text does not support the statement
NOT GIVEN if there is no information in the text about the statement
28. A rat was found on the ship MV Discovery.
29. Environmentalists are unhappy with the idea of cruise ships visiting the Galapagos Islands.
30. Leonor Stjepic believes that the quarantine system on the Galapagos Islands was completely effective before large cruise ships began to arrive.
31. Leonor Stjepic thinks that the Galapagos Islands should focus on tourists who have more money to spend.
32. There is a Starbucks on the Galapagos Islands.
33. Local businesspeople are very happy with the arrival of the cruise ship.
34. David Yellow gives lectures on environmental protection to passengers on the MV Discovery.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 35-40
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text.
35. Alien species have been kept away from the Galapagos Islands by ………………….
36. About …………………. visit the Galapagos each year.
37. An acceleration in visitor numbers would …………………. to keep out pests and disease.
38. Leonor Stjepic thinks that the islands …………………. cannot handle large numbers of tourists.
39. Many of the people visiting the islands are …………………. and cannot use small boats.
40. Leonor Stjepic and David Yellow disagree over who caused the …………………. discovered after the first visit by the MV Discovery.
IELTS General Reading Test
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS
28. FALSE
29. TRUE
30. NOT GIVEN
31. TRUE
32. FALSE
33. NOT GIVEN
34. NOT GIVEN
35. (OPEN) OCEAN
36. 100,000 TOURISTS/PEOPLE/VISITORS
37. OVERWHELM EFFORTS
38. INFRASTRUCTURE
39. ELDERLY
40. GRAFFITI AND LITTER
IELTS General Reading Test