Birds have many unique design features that enable them to perform such amazing feats of endurance. They are equipped with lightweight, hollow bones, intricately designed feathers providing both lift and thrust for rapid flight, navigation systems superior to any that man has developed, and an ingenious heat conserving design that, among other things, concentrates all blood circulation beneath layers of warm, waterproof plumage, leaving them fit to face life in the harshest of climates. Their respiratory systems have to perform efficiently during sustained flights at altitude, so they have a system of extracting oxygen from their lungs that far exceeds that of any other animal. During the later stages of the summer breeding season, when food is plentiful, their bodies can accumulate considerable layers of fat, to provide sufficient energy for their long migratory flights.
B. The fundamental reason that birds migrate is to find adequate food during the winter months when it is in short supply. This particularly applies to birds that breed in the temperate and Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, where food is abundant during the short growing season. Many species can tolerate cold temperatures if food is plentiful, but when food is not available, they must migrate. However, intriguing questions remain.
One puzzling fact is that many birds journey much further than would be necessary just to find food and good weather. Nobody knows, for instance, why British swallows, which could presumably survive equally well if they spent the winter in equatorial Africa, instead of…
Questions 1–7
Reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
There are not enough classrooms at the Msekeni primary school, so half the lessons take place in the shade of yellow-blossomed acacia trees. Given this shortage, it might seem odd that one of the school’s purpose-built classrooms has been emptied of pupils and turned into a storeroom for sacks of grain. But it makes sense. Food matters more than shelter.
Msekeni is in one of the poorer parts of Malawi, a landlocked southern African country of exceptional beauty and great poverty. No war lays waste Malawi, nor is the land unusually crowed or infertile, but Malawians still have trouble finding enough to eat. Half of the children under five are underfed to the point of stunting. Hunger blights most aspects of Malawian life, so the country is as good a place as any to investigate how nutrition affects development, and vice versa.
The headmaster at Msekeni, Bernard Kumanda, has strong views on the subject. He thinks food is a priceless teaching aid. Since 1999, his pupils have received free school lunches. Donors such as the World Food Programme (WFP) provide the food: those sacks of grain (mostly mixed maize and soya bean flour, enriched with vitamin A) in that converted classroom. Local volunteers do the cooking – turning the dry ingredients into a bland but nutritious slop and spooning it out on to plastic plates. The children line up in large crowds, cheerfully singing a song called “We are getting porridge”.
When the school’s feeding programme was introduced, enrolment at Msekeni doubled. Some of the new pupils had switched from nearby schools that did not give out free…
Questions 14–20
The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-G from the list below.
We have long lived in an age where powerful images, catchy soundbites and too-good-to miss offers to bombard us from every quarter. All around us the persuaders are at work. Occasionally their methods are unsubtle –the planting kiss on a baby’s head by a wannabe political leader, or a liquidation sale in a shop that has been “closing down” for well over a year, but generally the persuaders know what they are about and are highly capable. Be they politicians, supermarket chains, salespeople or advertisers, they know exactly what to do to sell us their images, ideas or produce. When it comes to persuasion, these giants rule supreme. They employ the most skilled image-makers and use the best psychological tricks to guarantee that even the most cautious among us are open to manipulation.
We spend more time in them than we mean to, we buy 75 percent of our food from them and end up with products that we did not realize we wanted. Right from the start, supermarkets have been ahead of the game. For example, when Sainsbury introduced shopping baskets into its 1950s stores, it was a stroke of marketing genius. Now shoppers could browse and pick up items they previously would have ignored. Soon after came trolleys, and just as new roads attract more traffic, the same applied to trolley space. Pro Merlin Stone, IBM Professor of Relationship Marketing at Bristol Business School, says aisles are laid out to maximize profits. Stores pander to our money-rich, time-poor lifestyle. Low turnover products —clothes and electrical goods—are stocked at the back while high—turnover items command…
Questions 27–29
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
27.What is the supermarket's purpose of using "basket" in paragraph B?
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Answers & explanations
Every answer is available. The first 3 explanations are free; PrepGo Premium unlocks the rest.
40 answers3 explanations open
1
iv
By skimming, you will notice that the entire paragraph is dedicated to the characteristics that allow birds to migrate (or help with lift and thrust for rapid flight). Here, the hints start from the phrase "equipped with" and "lightweight, hollow bones, intricately designed feathers" are the main keywords.
2
v
The topic sentence gives the idea that this paragraph would reveal the fundamental (or the main) reasons for bird migration: food. Following sentences focus on the typical birds that migrate for food.
3
ii
It can be inferred that this entire paragraph is dedicated to the feeding ground that birds choose. From the beginning, the text says it is a puzzling (or mysterious, or unexplained) fact that birds fly further than they need to find food (or feeding ground), meaning they reject closer feeding ground without our understanding.
4
x
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5
vii
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6
i
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7
viii
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8
A
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9
C
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10
Guidance
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11
Compass
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12
Predators
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13
Visible
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14
iii
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15
x
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16
viii
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17
ix
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18
vi
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19
i
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20
iv
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21
extra snacks
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22
firewood
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23
85%
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24
50%
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25
A
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26
C
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27
B
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28
A
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29
D
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30
C
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31
J
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32
F
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33
K
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34
K
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35
D
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36
aisles
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37
experiments
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38
loyalty card
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39
cosmetics
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40
group
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Understand why, not only what.
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