Cambridge IELTS 21 · Listening · Test 1 · Part 4
Sources of Rubber — IELTS Listening Answers
All 10 answers for Sources of Rubber, Cambridge IELTS 21 Listening Test 1 Part 4, with the transcript evidence and an explanation for each.
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Sources of Rubber answer key at a glance
Questions 31–40. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this part tests
This part is tested with Note Completion (Q31–40). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 31–40: Note Completion
Strategy: Predict the word class from the note, find the paraphrase of the note's keyword in the transcript, then copy the answer exactly within the word limit.
“There are three types of natural resource without which industry could not exist. One of these is metal - without that we'd have no machines and no transportation. Another is fossil fuels, which we need to power those machines.”
First resource: 'one of these is metal', needed for machines and transport, so the plural 'metals' (metal accepted) fits the heading.
“It can take eight to ten years for a tree to start producing rubber, so cultivating them's a slow process”
Rubber trees take 'eight to ten years' to produce, so cultivation 'is a slow process' — the adjective 'slow'.
“With most crops, farmers don't have to think very far ahead, so they can easily change what crop they produce, or how much of a crop they produce, if they find the demand for that crop is rising or falling”
Unlike other crops, farmers respond to whether 'the demand for that crop is rising or falling', so 'demand' is the market factor.
“The result is that it can't be grown in the northern or southern parts of the globe, only around the equator”
Growing area limited: rubber 'can't be grown in the northern or southern parts of the globe, only around the equator'.
“With other resources such as water and glass, when we've finished using them we can recycle them, but although this is also possible with rubber, it's very difficult, so that also reduces the amount we have available”
Unlike water and glass, rubber is hard to 'recycle', which 'reduces the amount we have available'.
“The most dangerous threat is a fungus, which destroyed large numbers of rubber trees in Brazil, and which could cause devastation to plantations worldwide”
The worst threat is 'a fungus, which destroyed large numbers of rubber trees in Brazil', so 'fungus' names it.
“And finally, in recent years South-East Asia, like other parts of the world, has been repeatedly hit by extreme types of weather, and this looks likely to continue in the future”
Climate risk: South-East Asia 'has been repeatedly hit by extreme types of weather', so 'weather' follows 'extreme types of'.
“But compared with natural rubber, it's not anything like as strong, and this means it can't replace natural rubber in other products”
Synthetic rubber 'isn't anything like as strong' as natural rubber, so the adjective 'strong' fits.
“But when it's pulled up and its roots cut open, they're found to contain rubber”
The rubber is found when the plant 'is pulled up and its roots cut open', so 'roots' is the part containing it.
“They'll grow in all sorts of places, and they don't need rich soil”
Guayule grows in many places and 'doesn't need rich soil', so 'soil' completes the note on growing conditions.
Learn the question types in this part
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Sources of Rubber listening section come from?
It is Part 4 of Cambridge IELTS 21 Listening Test 1, and it covers Questions 31–40.
What question types appear in Sources of Rubber?
The part is tested with Note Completion. Each type is explained on this page, alongside the answers.
Are these reading answers reliable?
Every answer is paired with the sentence that proves it, so you can check each one against the passage yourself. Use the page after a timed attempt, not instead of one.
Cambridge IELTS is published by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Band9Prep is not affiliated with Cambridge. This page is an independent study aid: it gives the answer key, the passage evidence and an explanation so you can review an attempt you have already made.