Bring Back The Big Cats — IELTS Reading Answers

What did the 2006 discovery of the animal bone reveal about the lynx?

1. AIts physical appearance was very distinctive.
2. BIts extinction was linked to the spread of farming.
3. CIt vanished from Britain several thousand years ago.
4. DIt survived in Britain longer than was previously thought.correct

“Until this discovery, the lynx – a large spotted cat with tasselled ears – was presumed to have died out in Britain at least 6,000 years ago, before the inhabitants of these islands took up farming.”

The 2006 bone overturned the assumption that the lynx died out at least 6,000 years ago, placing it in Britain later than believed, which is option D.

What point does the writer make about large predators in the third paragraph?

1. ATheir presence can increase biodiversity.correct
2. BThey may cause damage to local ecosystems.
3. CTheir behaviour can alter according to the environment.
4. DThey should be reintroduced only to areas where they were native.

“Some of them drive dynamic processes that resonate through the whole food chain, creating niches for hundreds of species that might otherwise struggle to survive. The killers turn out to be bringers of life.”

Predators drive dynamic processes that create niches for hundreds of species, so their presence raises biodiversity, which is option A.

What does the writer suggest about British conservation in the fourth paragraph?

1. AIt has failed to achieve its aims.
2. BIt is beginning to change direction.
3. CIt has taken a misguided approach.correct
4. DIt has focused on the most widespread species.

“It has tried to preserve the living world as if it were a jar of pickles, letting nothing in and nothing out, keeping nature in a state of arrested development. But ecosystems are not merely collections of species; they are also the dynamic and ever-shifting relationships between them.”

The jar-of-pickles image, keeping nature in arrested development by letting nothing in or out, mocks conservation's static approach, matching option C.

Protecting large areas of the sea from commercial fishing would result in

1. Apractical benefits for the fishing industry.correct
2. Bsome short-term losses to the fishing industry.
3. Cwidespread opposition from the fishing industry.
4. Dcertain changes to techniques within the fishing industry.

“This policy would also greatly boost catches in the surrounding seas”

Closing sea areas to fishing would greatly boost catches in the surrounding seas, a practical gain for the industry, which is option A.

According to the author, what distinguishes rewilding from other environmental campaigns?

1. AIts objective is more achievable.
2. BIts supporters are more articulate.
3. CIts positive message is more appealing.correct
4. DIt is based on sounder scientific principles.

“Rewilding is a rare example of an environmental movement in which campaigners articulate what they are for rather than only what they are against. One of the reasons why the enthusiasm for rewilding is spreading so quickly in Britain is that it helps to create a more inspiring vision”

Rewilding campaigners articulate what they are for rather than only what they are against, producing a more inspiring vision, so option C's appealing positive message fits.

“The lynx presents no threat to human beings: there is no known instance of one preying on people”

The summary needs a word for the risk the lynx poses to people; no known instance of one preying on people points to the harmless, no-danger option, E.

“It is a specialist predator of roe deer, a species that has exploded in Britain in recent decades”

The gap needs the prey animal that has multiplied; the lynx is a specialist predator of roe deer, a species that has exploded in Britain recently, so option D.

“The lynx requires deep cover, and as such presents little risk to sheep and other livestock, which are supposed, as a condition of farm subsidies, to be kept out of the woods”

The lynx requires deep cover and so poses little risk to sheep kept out of the woods, so the gap asking about woodland-farmed livestock is option F.

“The attempt to reintroduce this predator marries well with the aim of bringing forests back to parts of our bare and barren uplands”

Reintroduction marries well with the aim of bringing forests back to bare uplands, so the gap needs a word for woodland, which option A supplies.

Britain could become the first European country to reintroduce the lynx.

“The lynx has now been reintroduced to the Jura Mountains, the Alps, the Vosges in eastern France and the Harz mountains in Germany, and has re-established itself in many more places”

The lynx has already been reintroduced to the Jura, Alps, Vosges and Harz mountains, so Britain would not be the first European country, contradicting the statement.

The large growth in the European lynx population since 1970 has exceeded conservationists’ expectations.

“The European population has tripled since 1970 to roughly 10,000”

The passage reports that the European population tripled since 1970 to roughly 10,000 but never mentions what conservationists expected, so the comparison is absent.

Changes in agricultural practices have extended the habitat of the lynx in Europe.

“the lynx has been able to spread as farming has left the hills”

As farming has left the hills, the lynx has been able to spread, so agricultural change directly extended its habitat and the answer is YES.

It has become apparent that species reintroduction has commercial advantages.

“people discover that it is more lucrative to protect charismatic wildlife than to hunt it, as tourists will pay for the chance to see it”

Protecting charismatic wildlife is more lucrative than hunting it because tourists pay to see it, confirming that reintroduction carries commercial advantages.