Cambridge IELTS 11 · General Training · Test 4 · Section 3
Understanding Hares — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for Understanding Hares, Cambridge IELTS 11 General Training Reading Test 4 Section 3, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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Understanding Hares answer key at a glance
Questions 28–40. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this section tests
This section is tested with Matching Features (Q28–33), One Choice (Q34–36), Summary Completion (Q37–40). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 28–33: Matching Features
Strategy: Match the statement to the named person or thing. Names can repeat, so check each option against what that person actually says.
Paragraph A
“Therefore, if farmers provided patches of woodland in areas of pasture as well as assorted crops in arable areas, there would be year-round shelter and food, and this could be the key to turning round the current decline in hare populations”
Paragraph A matches v: farmers providing 'patches of woodland ... as well as assorted crops' would give 'year-round shelter and food', a way to reverse the decline.
Paragraph B
“Brown hares have a number of physical adaptations that enable them to survive in open countryside”
Paragraph B matches ix: 'Brown hares have a number of physical adaptations that enable them to survive in open countryside', their bodily adaptations.
Paragraph C
“Brown hares have unusual lifestyles for their large size, breeding from a young age and producing many leverets (babies). There are about three litters of up to four leverets every year”
Paragraph C matches iii: hares have 'unusual lifestyles for their large size, breeding from a young age and producing many leverets', their breeding pattern.
Paragraph D
“Unlike baby rabbits, leverets are born furry and mobile. They weigh about 100 g at birth and are immediately left to their own devices by their mothers”
Paragraph D matches vii: 'leverets are born furry and mobile' and are 'immediately left to their own devices by their mothers', independent at birth.
Paragraph E
“Hares are selective feeders at the best of times: unlike many herbivores, they can't sit around waiting to digest low-quality food — they need high-energy herbs and other leaves in order to sprint”
Paragraph E matches ii: hares 'need high-energy herbs and other leaves in order to sprint', a selective, energy-rich diet.
Paragraph F
“They certainly used to: studies show that hares evolved on the open plains and spread rapidly westward from the Black Sea after the last ice age (though they were probably introduced to Britain as a species to be hunted for the pot by the Romans). But today’s hares are thwarted by the lack of rich farmland habitat.”
Paragraph F matches viii: hares 'evolved on the open plains' and spread west, but today are 'thwarted by the lack of rich farmland habitat'.
Questions 34–36: One Choice
Strategy: Read the question stem and predict the answer before looking at the options. Wrong options often repeat passage words while the correct one paraphrases them.
According to the writer, what is the ideal habitat for hares?
- Aopen grassland which they can run across
- Bdensely wooded areas to breed in
- Careas which include a range of vegetationcorrect
- Dland that has been farmed intensively for years
“Wherever they live, hares appear to have a fondness for fields with a variety of vegetation, for example short as well as longer clumps of grasses.”
Option C fits: hares show 'a fondness for fields with a variety of vegetation, for example short as well as longer clumps of grasses'.
When leverets are living alone they are not visited often by their mother because
- Athis helps to protect them from being eaten by other animals.correct
- Bthe ‘forms’ are so far apart.
- Cthey are very energetic from a surprisingly early age.
- Dthey know how to find their own food from birth.
“This lack of family contact may seem harsh to us, but it is a strategy that draws less attention from predators”
Option A fits: 'This lack of family contact ... is a strategy that draws less attention from predators', so infrequent visits protect the leverets.
What does the writer suggest about the adult hares’ diet?
- AThey need some plants with a high fat content.
- BThey need time to digest the plants that they eat.
- CIt is difficult for them to adapt to changes in vegetation.correct
- DIt is vital for them to have a supply of one particular herb.
“This causes them problems when faced with the smallest alterations in food availability and abundance”
Option C fits: the selective diet 'causes them problems when faced with the smallest alterations in food availability and abundance'.
Questions 37–40: Summary Completion
Strategy: Read the summary as a paragraph first to establish the logic, then locate the missing idea in the passage. With a lettered list, confirm the grammar fits.
“Compared to mammals of a similar size, hares have a greatly enlarged heart and a higher volume of blood in their bodies, and this allows for superior speed and stamina”
The gap is what an enlarged heart and extra blood provide; the text says this 'allows for superior speed and stamina'.
“their legs are longer than those of a rabbit, enabling hares to run more like a dog and reach speeds of up to 70 kph”
The gap is the animal hares are compared to when running: their longer legs let them 'run more like a dog' at up to 70 kph.
“the hares' large golden eyes give them 360° vision, making it hard to take a hare by surprise”
The gap is the sense their eyes give them: 'large golden eyes give them 360° vision', making surprise attacks hard.
“They have exceptionally large ears that move independently, so that a range of sounds can be pinpointed accurately”
The gap is the body part used to locate sounds: 'exceptionally large ears that move independently, so that a range of sounds can be pinpointed'.
Learn the question types in this section
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Understanding Hares passage come from?
It is Section 3 of Cambridge IELTS 11 General Training Reading Test 4, and it covers Questions 28–40.
What question types appear in Understanding Hares?
The section is tested with Matching Features, One Choice, Summary 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.