IELTS academic reading sentence completion

In IELTS academic reading sentence completion question type, you will come across some tricky questions and crack these questions easily. We have shared with you a few tips and instructions given. In sentence completion question type, you are asked to fill in the blanks with correct words/numbers by understanding the given passage. You need to skim and scan the passage to identify the correct word/number from the given passage.

Sentence completion question type is the general test to check your vocabulary and logical thinking. In this question type, incomplete sentences with blanks will be given, and ask you to complete the sentences with the appropriate words/numbers. You need to understand the given passage and fill the gaps with the missing information to complete the sentence.

The sentence completion question type is one of the most important IELTS academic reading question types in the IELTS academic reading module. To help you out, we include everything about IELTS academic reading sentence completion questions in this article. We hope that this article helps you to attain a good score in the IELTS academic reading task.

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Table of contents

1. IELTS academic reading sentence completion- Strategies & tips to solve
2. Skills required to solve sentence completion question
3. Common challenges faced while answering sentence completion question
4. Sentence completion Practice exercise 1
5. Sentence completion Practice exercise 2
6. Sentence completion Practice exercise 3
7. Sentence completion Practice exercise 4
8. Sentence completion Practice exercise 5
9. Sentence completion Practice exercise 6
10. Sentence completion Practice exercise 7
11. Sentence completion Practice exercise 8
12. Sentence completion Practice exercise 9
13. Sentence completion Practice exercise 10
14. Answers for Practice exercises
15. Conclusion

IELTS academic reading sentence completion- Strategies & tips to solve

These are 15 expert tips & strategies to crack the IELTS academic reading sentence completion test perfectly. Our primary goal with these IELTS academic reading sentence completion tips & strategies is to give you more confidence to solve the task with ease.

1. Read the given instructions carefully before answering the questions. Skipping instructions is not advisable.

2. In the sentence completion question, you need to fill in the blanks with the correct answers to complete the sentence.

3. Read the question sentence twice, take the keyword, compare it with the passage to get the matched word/number.

5. Remember you must change the word form. The answer should be similar to the word in the passage.

6. Read the given passage clearly and then go for the questions

7. Read the question twice or thrice and try to fill the gap on your own by recollecting the passage.

8. Then you match your own word with the passage and get the correct word from the passage.

9. Remember that your chosen word should not exceed the word limit.

10. Check what kind of words you are looking for like verbs, nouns(singular/plural) or adjectives, etc.

11. Do not repeat any word which is already in the question before or after the blank.

12. The questions will be in order. So, start to look for the next answer right below where you discovered the previous answer.

13. A good vocabulary helps you to answer sentence completion question types with ease.

14. Some new words may scare you, but remembering the given tips and strategies will help you respond with confidence.

15. Don't waste your time looking for a single answer for a long time. If you don't get an answer, move on to the next question. You can try to find it again once you've finished answering all of the questions.

Hope these IELTS academic reading sentence completion tips & strategies will help you achieve a high band score.

Also, read IELTS academic reading tips

Skills required to solve sentence completion question

By using sentence completion questions, your capability and patience will be tested in IELTS academic reading exams. To solve this task without any discomfort, there are some skills needed. They are as follows,

• Complete focus and attentiveness
• Patience to read it twice or thrice if you don't get it the first time.
• Grasping the right keywords
• Identifying the appropriate words and synonyms
• Paraphrase understanding
• Answering questions based on tips and instructions
• Time-management

Common challenges faced while answering sentence completion question

When you avoid the mistakes described below, you will be able to answer the sentence completion question better and also you can increase your overall band score in the IELTS academic readings exams.

• Nervousness when answering - Relax and start answering with confidence.
• Not paying attention to the tips and instructions.
• Instead of looking for synonyms or related meanings, search for the specific keyword.
• Not understanding the paraphrasing sentences.
• Finally, wasting time trying to locate the word prior to the blank.

Sentence completion Practice exercise 1

Answer questions 1-5 which are based on the reading passage below.

The Halifax Explosion Reading Passage

Before the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, the largest-ever non-natural explosion had taken place in 1917 in the eastern Canadian port city of Halifax. With the outbreak of World War I, Halifax was effectively transformed into a boomtown. Convoys gathered weekly in Bedford Basin (the north-western end of Halifax Harbour) in order to traverse the Atlantic, and Halifax Harbour became heavy with vessels of one variety or another. This spike in boat traffic was not dealt with efficiently, and collisions became almost normal.

On December 1st, 1917, the French vessel Mont Blanc left New York in order to join a convoy in Halifax after being loaded with 226,797 kilograms of TNT (an explosive), 223,188 kilograms of benzol (a type of gasoline), 1,602,519 kilograms of wet picric acid (an explosive), and 544,311 kilograms of dry picric acid (another explosive). On December 6th, the Mont Blanc was ushered into Halifax’s harbour after the U-boat nets had been raised.

At the same time, the cargoless Norwegian ship, Imo, left Bedford Basin en route to New York in order to pick up relief items for transport to war-torn Belgium. Imo was behind schedule and attempting to remedy that. She passed a boat on the wrong side before sending a tugboat retreating to port. By the time she reached the Narrows, she was in the wrong channel and going too fast. The Mont Blanc sounded her whistle, but the Imo sounded back twice, refusing to alter course. At the last moment, the Mont Blanc veered, and the Imo reversed, but it was too late. From the gash formed in the French boat’s hull seeped a noxious spiral of oily, orange-dappled smoke. Mont Blanc’s crew rowed to shore on the Dartmouth side, but no one could decipher their warnings. Their fiery vessel then casually drifted toward the Halifax side where it came to rest against one of the piers.

This spectacle drew thousands of onlookers. People crowded docks and windows filled with curious faces. As many as 1,600 died instantly when the boat exploded. Around 9,000 were injured, 6,000 seriously so. Approximately 12,000 buildings were severely damaged; virtually every building in town was damaged to some extent; 1,630 were rendered nonexistent. Around 6,000 people were made homeless, and 25,000 people (half the population) were left without suitable housing.

The Halifax Explosion, as it became known, was the largest manmade detonation to date, approximately one-fifth the ferocity of the bomb later dropped on Hiroshima. It sent up a column of smoke reckoned to be 7,000 metres in height. It was felt more than 480 kilometres away. It flung a ship gun barrel some 5.5 kilometres, and part of an anchor, which weighed 517 kilograms, around 3 kilometres. The blast absolutely flattened a district known as Richmond. It also caused a tsunami that saw a wave 18 metres above the high-water mark depositing the Imo onto the shore of the Dartmouth side. The pressure wave of air that was produced snapped trees, bent iron rails, and grounded ships. That evening, a blizzard commenced, and it would continue until the next day, leaving 40 centimetres of snow in its wake. Consequently, many of those trapped within collapsed structures died of exposure. Historians put the death toll of the Halifax Explosion at approximately 2,000.

Adapted from a passage in ‘A Sort of Homecoming – In Search of Canada’ by Troy Parfitt

Questions 1-5

Complete the sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer

1. During World War One, Halifax Harbour was unable to handle the increased shipping traffic properly, and there were numerous __________.
2. The Imo was not in the correct _________and travelling too fast.
3. ___________of people were watching the burning ship when it exploded.
4. The Halifax Explosion had about ____________of the power of the Hiroshima bomb.
5. Freezing weather brought by a blizzard caused the death of some survivors who were __________under collapsed buildings.

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Sentence completion Practice exercise 2

Answer Questions 1-7 which are based on the reading passage below.

Alaskans’ vitamin D production slows to a halt Reading Passage

Interested people are needed to participate in a one-year study to assess the effects of long dark winters on the vitamin D and calcium levels of Fairbanks residents.

So began a recruitment poster Meredith Tallas created 25 years ago. Now living in Oakland, California, Tallas was a University of Alaska Fairbanks student in 1983 who wanted to study how levels of a vitamin related to sun exposure fluctuated in people living so far from the equator. “The most obvious vitamin to study in Alaska is vitamin D, because of the low light in winter,” Tallas said recently over the phone from her office in Berkeley.

Forty-seven people responded to Tallas’ 1983 request, and her master’s project was underway. By looking at the blood work of those Fairbanks residents every month and analyzing their diets, she charted their levels of vitamin D, which our skin magically produces after exposure to a certain amount of sunshine. We also get vitamin D from foods, such as vitamin-D enriched milk and margarine, and fish (salmon are a good source). Vitamin D is important for the prevention of bone diseases, diabetes, and other maladies.

If you live at a latitude farther north than about 42 degrees (Boston, Detroit, or Eugene, Oregon), the sun is too low on the horizon from November through February for your skin to produce vitamin D, according to the National Institutes of Health. Tallas also saw another potential Alaska limitation on the natural pathway to vitamin D production.

“Most outdoor activity requires covering all but the face and hands approximately seven months of the year,” she wrote in her thesis. “During the summer months residents keep much of their bodies clothed because of the persistent and annoying mosquitoes and biting flies and because of this, an Alaskan summer suntan becomes one of the face and hands.”

But even over bundled people like Alaskans show signs of enhanced vitamin D production from the sun. Tallas found the highest levels of vitamin D in the Fairbanks volunteers’ blood in July, and the lowest levels in March. Tallas attributed the July high occurring about a month after summer solstice to the time needed for the body’s processing of sunlight and the conversion to vitamin D.

In Tallas’ study, volunteers showed low levels of vitamin D in the winter months, but most got sufficient doses of vitamin D from sources other than the sun. Tallas also found that males had an average of 16 percent more vitamin D in their blood throughout the study, which she attributed in part to men being outside more.

In charting an average for people’s time outside (you can’t convert sunlight to vitamin D through windows), she found December was the low point of sunlight exposure when the sun struck the skin of her volunteers for less than 20 minutes per day. People spent an average of more than two hours exposed to Alaska sunlight in June and July. They seemed to hunker down in October when time outside in the sun dropped to about half an hour after almost two hours of daily sun exposure in September.

Vitamin D levels in the volunteers’ blood dropped in August, September, October, November, December, January, February, and March, but Tallas saw an occasional leap in midwinter. “When someone had gone to Hawaii, we could see, very exactly, a significant spike in their vitamin D levels,” Tallas said. “The only surprise was how it came a month or two after.”

In her thesis, Tallas wrote that a midwinter trip to somewhere close to the equator would be a good thing for boosting Alaskans’ vitamin D levels. “Presuming that an individual’s lowest circulating vitamin D level is found in March or April, such trips could potentially have a very significant effect in improving late winter vitamin D status,” she wrote in her thesis. “Unfortunately a majority of Alaskan residents do not take such trips often.” An easy alternative for Alaskans not travelling southward during the winter is eating foods rich in vitamin D or taking vitamin D supplements, Tallas said.

Questions 1 - 7

Complete the sentences below

Write ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

1Tallas invited Fairbank residents to her _____ through an advertisement.
2 Tallas examined the food intake as well as ______ samples of the subjects to record their vitamin D levels.
3 As you move up _________, there is insufficient availability of sunlight.
4 To avoid insect bites, Alaskans remain almost entirely ______.
5 Spending more time _____ led to higher vitamin D levels in male volunteers.
6 At its lowest, Alaskans are exposed to the sun for only a few _________ every day.
7 A _____ to sunny regions during winters can surge the vitamin D levels of Alaskans.

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Sentence completion Practice exercise 3

Answer questions 1-8 which are based on the reading passage below.

How Geese Migrate Reading Passage

Weighing over twenty pounds, the Canada Goose is the largest in the world. Generally, most geese weigh around 5 to 14 pounds. Females are smaller in size than their male counterparts. A full-grown Canada goose has a wingspan of 50 to 75 inches.

The Canada goose is the most widely distributed in North America. The breeding grounds of the geese cover the stretch from eastern Labrador to Western Alaska, and it is the only goose in North America to breed south of 49°N. The geese are known to occupy a wide range of habitats in temperate to low arctic areas including The Tundra which is not so rich in geographical features, The Boreal forest, The Parklands, The Prairies, meadows, and the higher mountains.

For most goose populations, nesting areas in the Arctic are secure; however, the development of gas and oil industries poses a danger to these groups. During migration, the geese head for warmer places where food is readily available. Canada geese migrate in the V- formation and are always in large groups. Scientists believe that geese travel in V-formation because of what is called the ‘drafting effect.’ It aids the birds to preserve their energy as they cover long distances. The same paths are followed by the migrating birds each year. The name given to these paths is ‘flyways’ or ‘routes’. The four flyways that the Canada Geese use are: the Atlantic Flyway which is along the eastern coast of North America, the Mississippi Flyway, the Central Flyway which spans the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Flyway which is the route along the west of the Rocky Mountains.

Canada geese follow seasonal patterns of migration. The autumn migration is seen from September to the starting of November. The early migrant geese are likely to migrate faster as they spend less time at the designated rest stops. Some geese are known to return year after year to the same nesting grounds and lay their eggs with their partners. The chicks are raised in the same way every year. We know this from the records of many geese that have been tagged by scientists on the East Coast. However, It has been noticed that a few migratory populations of the Canada Goose are not flying as far south in the winter months as they used to. This Northward range shift is probably because of the availability of waste grain in the fall and winter months. Agricultural fields offer food that is available in abundance and is also of superior quality for the geese compared to natural crops. Changing weather patterns and hunting pressure are the other reasons.

Every autumn, the snow geese move from their chief breeding area in central Canada to Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge where they make a stopover before moving to their destination in the Gulf of Mexico. They breed during the Arctic summers and then migrate to Mexico to spend the winter. During the summer, the young geese grow rapidly and become ready to fly. By the end of August, the birds make their journey to Mexico with the young ones on their first migration. They travel back to Canada in late spring along with their young ones. Some birds make the entire journey without stopping for rest, making it a journey of 70 straight hours of flying. Most of the geese are not inclined to make a stop on their return journey north as they are eagerly waiting to mate.

The Squaw Creek National Park is an essential stopover for the geese on the Central Flyway migratory route. The area was a private hunting area, but now the wildlife here is protected by law.

Questions 1 - 8

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1 The geese live in various types of ________.
2 Extraction of ______ and ______ in the Arctic can be a threat to goose population.
3 Migrating geese can save energy due to the _______ created by flying in V-formation.
4 Some groups of Canada goose do not migrate to the far south anymore because they can get plentiful _______ on farmlands.
5 After _______ in central Canada, Snow geese migrate to Mexico for the winters.
6 The return journey to Canada takes place by the end of ________.
7 Some geese do not take _______ as they fly back to the north.
8 _________ is not allowed in the Squaw Creek National Park.

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Sentence completion Practice exercise 4

Answer questions 1-8 which are based on the reading passage below.

What Is An Asbo IELTS Reading Practice Test

We’ve provided the reading passage of What Is An Asbo. Read the passage and carefully complete the questions. Check the answers with our What Is An Asbo reading answers with locations

What is an asbo

A. Ask somebody to make a list of crimes and they will probably come up with the usual suspects that you or I would: murder, robbery, assault burglary and so on. They might even include acts which are merely against the law’ like parking on a double yellow line.

B. But if you ask them to make a list of anti-social behaviours, you are getting into an area where there is going to be considerable disagreement. This didn’t stop the UK government which introduced Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, or ASBOs, in 1998 as part of the Crime and Disorder Act – legislation designed to deal with practically all aspects of criminal activity and
disorderly behaviour.

C. A subjective definition of anti-social behaviour permits you to cast your net wide and include anything you find personally disagreeable; the legal definition is also widely inclusive. To quote the Crime and Disorder Act it is behaviour which ’causes or is likely to cause harassment alarm or distress to one or more people who are not in the same household as the perpetrator’.This includes, among many other things, foul and abusive language, threatening behaviour, shouting, disorderly conduct, vandalism, intimidation, behaviour as the result of drug or alcohol misuse, graffiti and noise which is excessive, particularly at night.

D. The idea is that ASBOs are sanctions designed to deal with issues that affect everyone in the community and as such are civil sanctions, not criminal ones, and need the cooperation of the community to be effective. For example, a private individual cannot apply for an ASBO; he or she must make a complaint to the police or local authority, who will then work together to gather more information and build up evidence. This involves getting witnesses, among whom will no doubt be neighbours and acquaintances, to make statements to the authorities. When the authorities are satisfied that they have enough evidence, the local council applies to the magistrates court to have an ASBO imposed.

E. We still haven’t decided what constitutes anti-social behaviour. It doesn’t have to be physical violence, of course, but is far easier to identify and deal with if it is. What about threatening behaviour? We’re not talking here about direct threats such as ‘lf you come round here again, I’ll beat you up!’, but situations perceived as threatening. Let’s say a pensioner or a person of timid disposition is on their way home and they run into a group of young people who are shouting, swearing and kicking a ball about and who happen to make a few unkind . remarks as the person passes. Let’s say the person is alarmed or feels threatened by the situation. Does it merit getting the ASBO process going?

F. In fact, young people merely hanging out in public places, however boisterous their behaviour might seem to be to some people, are not considered to be indulging in anti-social behaviour. However, there is a proviso. Such behaviour in its own right is not considered anti-social unless it is thought it is being done with other, more serious, behavioural attitudes
involved. This, of course, can be very subjective.

G. A person faced with an ASBO can argue in their defence that their behaviour was reasonable and unthreatening. This too is subjective, and both sides’ claims are open to wide interpretation. Something else that has to be taken into account here is that ASBOs are made on an individual basis even if that person is part of a group of people committing anti-social behaviour. If a case reaches the magistrates court, witnesses can be called to provide further evidence for or against the defendant. However, the magistrate, as well as considering the complaints made against the defendant, will take into account his or her family situation, welfare issues, and whether or not he or she has been victimised or discriminated against It is worth bearing in mind, though, that witnesses can be intimidated or otherwise persuaded not to appear in court and give evidence.

H. When the Crime and Disorder Act came into force, ASBOs were generally intended to be a measure to deal with adult anti-social behaviour, yet within the Act it states that an order can be applied for against any individual over the age often years old. It is a striking fact that the majority of ASBOs imposed since the law was enacted have been handed out to young people and children.

I. The question is, have they been effective? The government, naturally, claims that they have brought about a real improvement in the quality of life in communities around the country. Nay-sayers, such as civil rights campaigners, claim the measures are far too open to abuse. Some say they go too far and some that they don’t go far enough and lack bite. However, a genuine impediment to their effectiveness is that to impose an ASBO takes a lot of time and paperwork, involving the cooperation of community, police and local council, and they are very expensive to implement- One estimate is that an ASBO can cost in excess of £20,000. What all this means is that ASBOs are being used very rarely in many parts of the country. So the jury is still out as to how effective they really are.

Questions 1-7

Complete the sentences.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1. The official________ says that anti-social behaviour is behaviour which can cause alarm or distress.

2. Along with swearing and destruction of public or private property, making _______
noise is considered anti-social behaviour.

3. ASBOs are considered to be part of ________ law rather than criminal law.

4. Citizens have to _______ go to either the local council or the police before any action can be taken.

5. In their efforts to collect evidence the authorities may call on _______ to get more information.

6. ASBOs are issued at a _______

7.______ is the most straightforward form of anti social behaviour to determine

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Sentence completion Practice exercise 5

Answer questions 1-7 which are based on the reading passage below.

The Secret Schizoid IELTS reading practice test

1. It is psychiatrist Ralph Klein who was credited with first coining the phrase ‘secret schizoid’. Unlike the overtly schizoid or schizotypal individual who is characterised by aloofness, coldness and indifference, the secret schizoid may present himself as an engaging and interactive individual according to Klein. Thus, Klein argues, there are not one but two distinct schizoid personality types: the overt schizoid and the covert schizoid.
2. Covert schizoids are difficult, on first glance, to identify. They have erected a convincing defensive barrier of social assuredness, engaging with the external reality, superficially at least. This engagement might, to the casual onlooker, appear quite normal. However, if quizzed about their behaviour, covert schizoids will probably reveal that they are still, on a deeper level, withdrawn from the real world. Their outward persona should be viewed, therefore, as little more than an act; the actual personality only being revealed in a safe place within the confines of the schizoids’ own mind; in other words, only ever known to the schizoids themselves.
3. The covert schizoid, as Fairbairn identified as long ago as 1940, is capable of ‘schizoid exhibitionism’; covert schizoids can appear to express a lot of feeling and make impressive social contacts without revealing anything of great significance about themselves. In effect, they disown the ‘character’ they play in public - the very credible front they put up -preserving their real personality intact. What the schizoids fear most is the consequences of emotional intimacy, so by erecting an invisible barrier between their public persona and their real self, the schizoids can avoid ever having to confront this fear and yet lead a relatively active and inclusive lifestyle.
4. Is the secret schizoid schizophrenic? Certainly not. Though the two fall within the realms of the same family of illnesses, the schizophrenic personality disorder is far more destructive. Whereas schizoids can, depending on the severity of their affliction, function fairly normally and even form relationships with others (based on intellectual, physical, familial, occupational or recreational, but most certainly not emotional, activities), and have a relatively fair grasp of reality, schizophrenics are plagued by hallucinations, delusions and disorganised thinking, all of which are likely to affect their functional capacity in a very negative way. It is true, however, that a family background of schizophrenia leaves one more vulnerable to or likely to develop a schizoid or schizotypal personality.
5. The causes of schizoid personality disorder are not clear, but it is theorised that an absence of parental affection and attention during early childhood may encourage the defensive tendencies and fear of intimacy that schizoids exhibit. It is also hypothesised that so-called secret schizoids are highly intelligent and have learned to develop their act as an effective coping mechanism which allows them to have the superficial relationships they so often crave without compromising that which they hold most valuable - their privacy.
6. One of the most damaging aspects of life as a secret schizoid can be what is termed 'depersonalisation’, namely, the loss of one’s sense of identity and individuality. Without the feedback which may be gleaned from real interpersonal relationships, schizoids’ perception of self may become skewed, or worse, they may begin to lose all self-perception. Effectively, this leaves the individuals feeling a deep sense of emptiness. Their emotional needs continue to go unfulfilled despite the fact that, on the face of it, the secret schizoids are leading an active and engaging lifestyle. The schizoids begin to question who or what they are and, tragically, yearn for the emotional attachment needed to confirm or reaffirm their perceptions of self an emotional attachment that they are incapable of seeking.
7. The public perception of the schizoid is misinformed at best. Just because they suffer from the illness does not mean secret schizoids are apathetic, dispassionate or indifferent. In actual fact, the schizoids can experience very strong emotions, but do so in both the comfort and discomfort of their own mind; the comfort of not feeling emotionally violated and the discomfort of not being able to share one’s inner fears with another person in order to alleviate them. Schizoids are often extremely sensitive people and their defensive front exists for the sole purpose of protecting themselves from criticism with which they are incapable of coping.

Questions

Questions 1-7

• Complete the sentences below.
• Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1. Whereas a typical schizoid might behave in an aloof or indifferent manner, the secret schizoid tends to appear, superficially at least, a very ………….. person, and one who is capable of interacting very successfully with those around him.
2. The secret schizoid appears socially assured, but this is only a very good ………., put up make it seem as if he is in tune with what is going on in the real world, whilst at the same time protecting him from it.
3. The way the secret schizoid behaves in public is only ……………….., the outside world never gets a glimpse of his real self, which remains hidden.
4. As they are unwilling to try to overcome their innate fear of emotional intimacy, schizoids who wish to lead a full and inclusive life must develop a separate ………….. and create an invisible barrier between this and their private self.
5. Schizoids differ from schizophrenics in that they have fairly decent understanding ………………………. and are not inclined to suffer from the same incapacitating symptoms, like hallucinations, delusions and disorganized thinking.
6. A history of schizophrenia in the family leaves a person more …………………. to developing schizoid tendencies.
7. Although it is not known what causes schizoid personality disorders, some suggest a lack of ………………….. during the first few years of life is partly to blame.

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Sentence completion Practice exercise 6

Answer questions 1-3 which are based on the reading passage below

The Discovery Of Baby Mammoth Reading Answers

A near-perfect frozen mammoth offers clues to a great vanished species

A
On a May morning in 2007, on the Yamal Peninsula in northwestern Siberia, a Nenets reindeer herder named Yuri Khudi stood on a sandbar on the Yuribey River, looking carefully at a diminutive corpse. Although he'd never seen such an animal before, Khudi had seen many mammoth tusks, the thick corkscrew shafts that his people found each summer, and this persuaded him the corpse was a baby mammoth. It was eerily well preserved. Apart from its missing hair and toenails, it was perfectly intact. Khudi realised the find might be significant and he knew he couldn't just return home and forget all about it. He therefore decided to travel to the small town of Yar Sale to consult an old friend named Kirill Serotetto. His friend took him to meet the director of the local museum, who persuaded the local authorities to fly Khudi and Serotetto back to the Yuribey River to collect the baby mammoth.

B
Mammoths became extinct between 14,000 and 10,000 years ago and since the extinctions coincided with the end of the most recent Ice age, many researchers believe that the primary cause of the great die-off was the sharp rise in temperature, which dramatically altered the vegetation. 'We have strong evidence that the temperature rise played a significant part in their extinction.’ says Adrian Lister, a palaeontologist and mammoth expert at London's Natural History Museum. 'In Eurasia, the timing of the two events matches closely.' The extinctions also coincided, however, with the arrival of modern humans. In addition to exploiting mammoths for food, they used their bones and tusks to make weapons, tools, and even dwellings. Some scientists believe humans were as much to blame as the temperature rise for the great die-off. Some say they caused it.

C
The body of the baby mammoth was eventually sent to the st Petersburg Zoological Museum in Russia. Alexei Tikhonov, the museum's director, was one of the first scientists to view the baby, a female. According to Tikhonov, Khudi had rescued 'the best preserved mammoth to come down to US from the Ice Age', and he gratefully named her Lyuba, after Khudi's wife. Tikhonov knew that no-one would be more excited by the find than Dan Fisher, an American colleague at the University of Michigan who had spent 30 years researching the lives of mammoths. Tikhonov invited Fisher, along with Bernard Buigues, a French mammoth hunter, to come and view the baby mammoth. Fisher and Buigues had examined other specimens together, including infants, but these had been in a relatively poor state. Lyuba was another story entirely, other than the missing hair and toenails, the only flaw in her pristine appearance was a curious dent above the trunk.

D
Fisher was particularly excited about one specific part of Lyuba's anatomy: her milk tusks. Through his career, Fisher has taken hundreds of tusk samples. Most of these came from the Great Lakes region of North America, and his research showed that these animals continued to thrive, despite the late Pleistocene* temperature change. On the other hand, Pleistocene era: the time between roughly 2.6 million years ago and 10.000 years ago to Fisher the tusks often revealed telltale evidence of human hunting. His samples frequently came from animals that had died in the autumn, when they should have been at their peak after summer grazing, and less likely to die of natural causes, but also when humans would have been most eager to stockpile meat for the coming winter. He has done limited work in Siberia, but his analysis of tusks from Wrangel Island, off the coast of Siberia, suggests the same conclusion.

E
In December 2007, Buigues arranged for the specimen to be transported to Japan to undergo a CT scan by Naoki Suzuki of the Jikei University School of Medicine. The test confirmed her skeleton was undamaged, and her internal organs seemed largely intact. It also showed that the end of her trunk, and her throat, mouth, and windpipe were filled with dense sediment. Six months later, in a laboratory in St Petersburg, Fisher, Buigues, Suzuki, Tikhonov and other colleagues began a three-day series of tests on Lyuba. During these, Fisher noted a dense mix of clay and sand in her trunk, mouth and throat, which had been indicated earlier by the scan. In fact, the sediment in Lyuba's trunk was packed so tightly that Fisher saw it as a possible explanation for the dent above her trunk. If she was frantically fighting for breath and inhaled convulsively, perhaps a partial vacuum was created in the base of her trunk, which would have flattened surrounding soft tissue. To Fisher, the circumstances of Lyuba's death were clear: she had asphyxiated. Suzuki, however, proposed a different interpretation, seeing more evidence for drowning than asphyxiation.

F
Studies are ongoing, but Lyuba has begun to shed the secrets of her short life and some clues to the fate of her kind. Her good general health was shown in the record of her dental development, a confirmation for Fisher that dental research is useful for evaluating health and thus key to investigating the causes of mammoth extinction. Analysis of her well- preserved DNA has revealed that she belonged to a distinct population of Mammuthus primigenius and that, soon after her time, another population migrating to Siberia from North America would take their place. Finally, Lyuba's premolars and tusks revealed that she had been born in late spring and was only a month old when she died.

Questions 1-3

• Complete the sentence below.
• Choose no more than two words from the passage for each answer.
• Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

1. Some researchers say that a marked rise in temperature impacted on mammoths by changing the types of ___________
2. Fisher concluded that many of the mammoth tusks he looked at displayed signs of ________
3. Not long after Lyuba’s death, the Mammuthus Primigenius group she belonged to was replaced by another group that came from ________

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Sentence completion Practice exercise 7

Answer questions 1-5 which are based on the reading passage below

Finding The Lost Freedom Reading Answers

1. The private car is assumed to have widened our horizons and increased our mobility. When we consider our children’s mobility, they can be driven to more places (and more distant places) than they could visit without access to a motor vehicle. However, allowing our cities to be dominated by cars has progressively eroded children’s independent mobility. Children have lost much of their freedom to explore their own neighborhood or city without adult supervision. In recent surveys, when parents in some cities were asked about their own childhood experiences, the majority remembered having more, or far more, opportunities for going out on their own, compared with their own children today. They had more freedom to explore their own environment.
2. Children’s independent access to their local streets may be important for their own personal, mental and psychological development. Allowing them to get to know their own neighborhood and community gives them a "sense of place”. This depends on "active exploration”, which is not provided for when children are passengers in cars. (Such children may see more, but they learn less.) Not only is it important that children be able to get to local play areas by themselves, but walking and cycling journeys to school and to other destinations provide genuine play activities in themselves.

3. They are very significant time and money costs for parents associated with transporting their children to school, sport and other locations. Research in the United Kingdom estimated that this cost, in 1990, was between 10 billion and 20 million pounds. (AIPPG)
4. The reduction in children’s freedom may also contribute to a weakening of the sense of local community. As fewer children and adults use the streets as pedestrians, these streets become less sociable places. There is less opportunity for children and adults to have the spontaneity of community. This in itself may exacerbate fears associated with assault and molestation of children, because there are fewer adults available who know their neighbors’ children, and who can look out for their safety.
5. The extra traffic involved in transporting children results in increased traffic congestion, pollution and accident risk. As our roads become more dangerous, more parents drive their children to more places, thus contributing to increased levels of danger for the remaining pedestrians. Anyone who has experienced either the reduced volume of traffic in peak hour during school holidays, or the traffic jams near schools at the end of a school day, will not need convincing about these points. Thus, there are also important environmental implications of children’s loss of freedom.
6. As individuals, parents strive to provide the best upbringing they can for their children. However, in doing so, (e.g. by driving their children to sport, school or recreation) parents may be contributing to a more dangerous environment for children generally. The idea that “streets are for cars and back yards and playgrounds are for children” is a strongly held belief, and parents have little choice as individuals but to keep their children off the streets if they want to protect their safety.
7. In many parts of Dutch cities, and some traffic calmed precincts in Germany, residential streets are now places where cars must give way to pedestrians. In these areas, residents are accepting the view that the function of streets is not solely to provide mobility for cars. Streets may also be for social interaction, walking, cycling and playing. One of the most important aspects of these European streets, in terms of giving cities back to children, has been a range of “traffic calming” initiatives, aimed at reducing the volume and speed of traffic. These initiatives have had complex interactive effects, leading to a sense that children have been able to do this in safety. Recent research has demonstrated that children in many German cities have significantly higher levels of freedom to travel to places in their own neighborhood or city than children in other cities in the world.
8. Modifying cities in order to enhance children’s freedom will not only benefit children. Such cities will become more environmentally sustainable, as well as more sociable and more livable for all city residents. Perhaps, it will be our concern for our children’s welfare that convinces us that we need to challenge the dominance of the car in our cities.

Questions 1-5

• Complete the sentences.
• Choose the correct ending for each statement endings numbered i-x.

Example: By driving children to school, parents help create... Answer: i

1. Children should play

2. In some German towns, pedestrians have right of way

3. Streets should also be used for

4. Reducing the amount of traffic and the speed is

5. All people who live in the city will benefit if cities are

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Sentence completion Practice exercise 8

Answer questions 1-3 which are based on the reading passage below

Sustainable growth at didcot Reading Answers

A
The UK Government’s South East Plan proposes additional housing growth in the town of Didcot, which has been a designated growth area since 1979. We in South Oxfordshire District Council consider that, although Didcot does have potential for further growth, such development should be sustainable, well-planned, and supported by adequate infrastructure and community services.
B
Recent experience in Didcot has demonstrated that large greenfield [1] developments cannot resource all the necessary infrastructure and low-cost housing requirements. The ensuing compromises create a legacy of local transport, infrastructure and community services deficits, with no obvious means of correction. We wish to ensure that there is greater recognition of the cost attached to housing growth, and that a means is found to resource the establishment of sustainable communities in growth areas.
C
Until the 1950s, the development of job opportunities in the railway industry, and in a large, military ordnance depot, was the spur to Didcot’s expansion. Development at that time was geared to providing homes for the railway and depot workers, with limited investment in shopping and other services for the local population. Didcot failed to develop Broadway as a compact town centre, and achieved only a strip of shops along one side of the main street hemmed in by low density housing and service trade uses.
D
From the 1970s, strategic planning policies directed significant new housing development to Didcot. Planners recognised Didcot’s potential, with rapid growth in local job opportunities and good rail connections for those choosing to work farther afield. However, the town is bisected by the east-west railway, and people living in Ladygrove, the urban extension to the north which has been built since the 1980s, felt, and still feel, cut off from the town and its community.
E
Population growth in the new housing areas failed to spark adequate private-sector investment in town centre uses, and the limited investment which did take place - Didcot Market Place development in 1982, for instance - did not succeed in delivering the number and range of town centre uses needed by the growing population. In 1990, public-sector finance was used to buy the land required for the Orchard Centre development, comprising a superstore, parking and a new street of stores running parallel to Broadway. The development took 13 years to complete.
F
The idea that, by obliging developers of new housing to contribute to the cost of infrastructure and service requirements, all the necessary finance could be raised, has proved unachievable. Substantial public finance was still needed to deliver major projects such as the new link road to the A34 on the outskirts of the town at Milton, the improved railway crossing at Marsh Bridge and new schools. Such projects were delayed due to difficulties in securing public finance. The same problem also held back expansion of health and social services in the town.
G
In recent years, government policy, in particular the requirement for developers that forty percent of the units in a new housing development should be low cost homes, has had a major impact on the economics of such development, as it has limited the developers’ contribution to the costs of infrastructure. The planning authorities are facing difficult choices in prioritising the items of infrastructure which must be funded by development, and this, in turn, means that from now on public finance will need to provide a greater proportion of infrastructure project costs.
H
The Government’s Sustainable Communities Plan seeks a holistic approach to new urban development in which housing, employment, services and infrastructure of all kinds are carefully planned and delivered in a way which avoids the infrastructure deficits that have occurred in places like Didcot in the past. This report, therefore, is structured around the individual components of a sustainable community, and shows the baseline position for each component.
I
Didcot has been identified as one of the towns with which the Government is working to evaluate whether additional growth will strengthen the economic potential of the town, deliver the necessary infrastructure and improve environmental standards. A programme of work, including discussions with the local community about their aspirations for the town as well as other stakeholders, will be undertaken over the coming months, and will lead to the development of a strategic master plan. The challenge will be in optimizing scarce resources to achieve maximum benefits for the town.

Questions 1-3

• Complete the sentences below.
• Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1. A certain proportion of houses in any new development now have to be of the type.
2. The government is keen to ensure that adequate will be provided for future housing developments.
3. The views of Didcot’s inhabitants and others will form the basis of a for the town.

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Sentence completion Practice exercise 9

Answer questions 1-5 which are based on the reading passage below

Sustainable Architecture- lessons from the ant Reading Answers

Termite mounds were the inspiration for an innovative design in sustainable living

Africa owes its termite mounds a lot. Trees and shrubs take root in them. Prospectors mine them, looking for specks of gold carried up by termites from hundreds of meters below. And of course, they are a special treat to aardvarks and other insectivores.

Now, Africa is paying an offbeat tribute to these towers of mud. The extraordinary Eastgate Building in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city, is said to be the only one in the world to use the same cooling and heating principles as the termite mound.

Termites in Zimbabwe build gigantic mounds inside which they farm a fungus that is their primary food source. This must be kept at exactly 30.5°C, while the temperatures on the African yield outside can range from 1.5°C at night only just above freezing to a baking hot 40°C during the day. The termites achieve this remarkable feat by building a system of vents in the mound. Those at the base lead down into chambers cooled by wet mud carried up from water tables far below, and others lead up through a Hue to the peak of the mound. By constantly opening and closing these heating and cooling vents over the course of the day the termites succeed in keeping the temperature constant in spite of the wide fluctuations outside.

Architect Mick Pearce used precisely the same strategy when designing the Eastgate Building, which has no air conditioning and virtually no heating. The building, the country's largest commercial and shopping complex, uses less than I0% of the energy of a conventional building ns size. These efficiencies translated directly to the bottom line: the Eastgate’s owners saved $3.5 million on a $36 million building because an air- conditioning plant didn't have to be imported. These savings were also passed on to tenants: rents are 20% lower than in a new building next door.

The complex is actually two buildings linked by bridges across a shady, glass-roofed atrium open to the breezes. Fans suck fresh air in from the atrium, blow it upstairs through hollow spaces under the floors and from there into each office through baseboard vents. As it rises and warms, it is drawn out via ceiling vents and finally exits through forty- eight brick chimneys.

To keep the harsh, high yield sun from heating the interior, no more than 25% of the outside is glass, and all the windows are screened by cement arches that just out more than a meter.

During summer’s cool nights, big fans flush air through the building seven times an hour to chill the hollow floors. By day, smaller fans blow two changes of air an hour through the building, to circulate the air which has been in contact with the cool floors. For winter days, there are small heaters in the vents.

This is all possible only because Harare is 1600 feet above sea level, has cloudless skies, little humidity and rapid temperature swings on days as warm as 31°C commonly drop to 14°C at night. ‘You couldn’t do this in New York, with its fantastically hot summers and fantastically cold winters,’ Pearce said. But then his eyes lit up at the challenge.' Perhaps you could store the summer's heat in water somehow.

The engineering firm of Ove Amp & Partners, which worked with him on the design, monitors daily temperatures outside, under the floors and at knee, desk and ceiling level. Ove Arup's graphs show that the temperature of the building has generally stayed between 23"C and 25°C. with the exception of the annual hot spell just before the summer rains in October, and three days in November, when a janitor accidentally switched off the fans at night. The atrium, which funnels the winds through, can be much cooler. And the air is fresh far more so than in air-conditioned buildings, where up to 30% of the air is recycled.

Pearce, disdaining smooth glass skins as ‘igloos in the Sahara’, calls his building, with its exposed girders and pipes, ‘spiky’. The design of the entrances is based on the porcupine-quill headdresses of the local Shona tribe. Elevators are designed to look like the mineshaft cages used in Zimbabwe's diamond mines. The shape of the fan covers, and the stone used in their construction, are echoes of Great Zimbabwe, the ruins that give the country its name.

Standing on a roof catwalk, peering down inside at people as small as termites below. Pearce said he hoped plants would grow wild in the atrium and pigeons and bats would move into it. like that termite fungus, further extending the whole 'organic machine’ metaphor. The architecture, he says, is a regionalised style that responds to the biosphere, to the ancient traditional stone architecture of Zimbabwe's past, and to local human resources.

Questions 1-5

Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 1.

Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet.

1. Warm air leaves the offices through _______
   2. The warm air leaves the building through ________
   3. Heat from the sun is prevented from reaching the windows by _________
   4. When the outside temperature drops ________ bring air in from outside.
   5. On cold days __________ raise the temperature in the offices.

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Sentence completion Practice exercise 10

Answer questions 1-5 which are based on the reading passage below

Ambergris Reading Answers

A. Ambergris was used to perfume cosmetics in the days of ancient Mesopotamia and almost every civilization on the earth has a brush with ambergris. Before 1,000 AD, the Chinese names ambergris as lung sien hiang, “dragon’s spittle perfume,” as they think that it was produced from the drooling of dragons sleeping on rocks at the edge of a sea. The Arabs knew ambergris as anbar, believing that it is produced from springs near seas. It also gets its name from here. For centuries, this substance has also been used as a flavouring for food.

B. During the Middle Ages, Europeans used ambergris as a remedy for headaches, colds, epilepsy, and other ailments. In the 1851 whaling novel MobyDick, Herman Melville claimed that ambergris was “largely used in perfumery.” But nobody ever knew where it really came from. Experts were still guessing its origin thousands of years later, until the long ages of guesswork ended in the 1720’s, when Nantucket whalers found gobs of the costly material inside the stomachs of sperm whales. Industrial whaling quickly burgeoned. By 20th century ambergris is mainly recovered from inside the carcasses of sperm whales.

C. Through countless ages, people have found pieces of ambergris on sandy beaches. It was named grey amber to distinguish it from golden amber, another rare treasure. Both of them were among the most sought-after substances in the world, almost as valuable as gold. (Ambergris sells for roughly $20 a gram, slightly less than gold at $30 a gram.)

Amber floats in salt water, and in old times the origin of both these substances was mysterious. But it turned out that amber and ambergris have little in common. Amber is a fossilized resin from trees that was quite familiar to Europeans long before the discovery of the New World, and prized as jewelry. Although considered a gem, amber is a hard, transparent, wholly-organic material derived from the resin of extinct species of trees, mainly pines.

D. To the earliest Western chroniclers, ambergris was variously thought to come from the same bituminous sea founts as amber, from the sperm of fishes or whales, from the droppings of strange sea birds (probably because of confusion over the included beaks of squid) or from the large hives of bees living near the sea. Marco Polo was the first Western chronicler who correctly attributed ambergris to sperm whales and its vomit.

E. As sperm whales navigate in the oceans, they often dive down to 2 km or more below the sea level to prey on squid, most famously the Giant Squid. It’s commonly accepted that ambergris forms in the whale’s gut or intestines as the creature attempts to “deal” with squid beaks. Sperm whales are rather partial to squid, but seemingly struggle to digest the hard, sharp, parrot-like beaks. It is thought their stomach juices become hyper-active trying to process the irritants, and eventually hard, resinous lumps are formed around the beaks, and then expelled from their innards by vomiting.

When a whale initially vomits up ambergris, it is soft and has a terrible smell. Some marine biologists compare it to the unpleasant smell of cow dung. But after floating on the salty ocean for about a decade, the substance hardens with air and sun into a smooth, waxy, usually rounded piece of nostril heaven. The dung smell is gone, replaced by a sweet, smooth, musky and pleasant earthy aroma.

F. Since ambergris is derived from animals, naturally a question of ethics arises, and in the case of ambergris, it is very important to consider. Sperm whales are an endangered species, whose populations started to decline as far back as the 19th century due to the high demand for their highly emollient oil, and today their stocks still have not recovered. During the 1970’s, the Save the Whales movement brought the plight of whales to international recognition.

Many people now believe that whales are “saved”. This couldn’t be further from the truth. All around the world, whaling still exists. Many countries continue to hunt whales, in spite of international treaties to protect them. Many marine researchers are concerned that even the trade in naturally found ambergris can be harmful by creating further incentives to hunt whales for this valuable substance.

G. One of the forms ambergris is used today is as a valuable fixative in perfumes to enhance and prolong the scent. But nowadays, since ambergris is rare and expensive, and big fragrance suppliers that make most of the fragrances on the market today do not deal in it for reasons of cost, availability and murky legal issues, most perfumeries prefer to add a chemical derivative which mimics the properties of ambergris.

As a fragrance consumer, you can assume that there is no natural ambergris in your perfume bottle, unless the company advertises this fact and unless you own vintage fragrances created before the 1980s. If you are wondering if you have been wearing a perfume with this legendary ingredient, you may want to review your scent collection. Here are a few of some of the top ambergris containing perfumes: Givenchy Amarige, Chanel No. 5, and Gucci Guilty.

Questions 1 – 3

• Complete the sentences below with NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage.
• Write your answers in boxes 7-9 on your answer sheet.

1. Sperm whales can’t digest the ______of the squids.
2. Sperm whales drive the irritants out of their intestines by______
3. The vomit of sperm whale gradually______ on contact of air before having pleasant smell.

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Answers for Practice exercises

Here you will find the answers for practice exercises 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,and 8.

The Halifax Explosion Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. Collisions

Explanation: Paragraph 1 – This spike in boat traffic was not dealt with efficiently and collisions became almost normal. During World War One, Halifax Harbour was unable to properly handle the increased shipping traffic, and there were numerous collisions.

2. channel

Explanation: Paragraph 3 – By the time she reached the Narrows, she was in the wrong channel and going too fast. The Imo was not in the correct channel and travelling too fast.

3. Thousands

Explanation: Paragraph 4 – This spectacle drew thousands of onlookers. Thousands of people were watching the burning ship when it exploded.

4. one-fifth

Explanation: Paragraph 5 – The Halifax Explosion, as it became known, was the largest manmade detonation to date, approximately one-fifth the ferocity of the bomb later dropped on Hiroshima. The Halifax Explosion had about one-fifth of the power of the Hiroshima bomb.

5. trapped

Explanation: Paragraph 5 – Consequently, many of those trapped within collapsed structures died of exposure. Freezing weather brought by a blizzard caused the death of some survivors who were trapped under collapsed buildings.

Alaskans’ vitamin D production slows to a halt Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. study/ project

Explanation: The subtitle of the passage and the first sentence of the first paragraph are answered. Interested people are needed to participate in a one-year study to assess the effects of long dark winters on the vitamin D and calcium levels of Fairbanks residents. So began a recruitment poster Meredith Tallas created 25 years ago.

Paragraph 2 - Forty-seven people responded to Tallas’ 1983 request, and her master’s project was underway.

2. blood

Explanation: Paragraph 2 - By looking at the blood work of those Fairbanks residents every month and analyzing their diets, she charted their levels of vitamin D,...

3. north

Explanation: Paragraph 3 - If you live at a latitude farther north than about 42 degrees (Boston, Detroit, or Eugene, Oregon), the sun is too low on the horizon from November through February for your skin to produce vitamin D,...

4. clothed

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - “During the summer months residents keep much of their bodies clothed because of the persistent and annoying mosquitoes and biting flies…

5. outside

Explanation: Paragraph 6 - Tallas also found that males had an average of 16 percent more vitamin D in their blood throughout the study, which she attributed in part to men being outside more.

6. minutes

Explanation: Paragraph 7- … she found December was the low point of sunlight exposure when the sun struck the skin of her volunteers for less than 20 minutes per day.

7. trip

Explanation: Paragraph 9 - In her thesis, Tallas wrote that a midwinter trip to somewhere close to the equator would be a good thing for boosting Alaskans’ vitamin D levels.

How Geese Migrate Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. habitats

Explanation: Paragraph 2 - The geese are known to occupy a wide range of habitats in temperate to low arctic areas including the tundra …

2. oil, gas/ gas, oil

Explanation: Paragraph 3 - For most goose populations, nesting areas in the Arctic are secure; however, the development of gas and oil industries poses a danger to these groups.

3. drafting effect

Explanation: Paragraph 3 - Scientists believe that geese travel in V-formation because of what is called the ‘drafting effect.’ It aids the birds to preserve their energy as they cover long distances.

4. food/ waste grain

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - However, it has been noticed that a few migratory populations of the Canada Goose are not flying as far south in the winter months as they used to. This Northward range shift is probably because of the availability of waste grain in the fall and winter months. Agricultural fields offer food that is available in abundance ...

5. breeding

Explanation: Paragraph 5 - Every autumn, the snow geese move from their chief breeding area in central Canada to … before moving to their destination in the Gulf of Mexico. They breed during the Arctic summers and then migrate to Mexico to spend the winter.

6. spring

Explanation: Paragraph 5 - They travel back to Canada in late spring along with their young ones.

7. rest

Explanation: Paragraph 5 - Some birds make the entire journey without stopping for rest; …

8. Hunting

Explanation: Paragraph 6 - The Squaw Creek National Park is an essential stopover for the geese on the Central Flyway migratory route. The area was a private hunting area, but now the wildlife here is protected by law.

What Is An Asbo With Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics mentions the location and referring lines written in the reading passage.)

7. Answer: Definition

Explanation: In the first two lines of paragraph C, “A subjective definition of anti-social behaviour permits you to cast your net wide and include anything you find personally disagreeable; the legal definition is also widely inclusive”.

8. Answer: Excessive

Explanation: In the last two lines of paragraph C, “threatening behaviour, shouting, disorderly conduct, vandalism, intimidation, behaviour as the result of drug or alcohol misuse, graffiti and noise which is excessive”.

9. Answer: Civil

Explanation: In the first two lines of paragraph D, “The idea is that ASBOs are sanctions designed to deal with issues that affect everyone in the community and as such are civil sanctions”.

10. Answer: Make a complaint

Explanation: In paragraph D's third and fourth lines, “a private individual cannot apply for an ASBO; he or she must make a complaint to the police or local authority, who will then work together to gather more information and build up evidence”.

11. Answer: Witnesses

Explanation: In the fifth line of paragraph D, “This involves getting witnesses, among whom will no doubt be neighbours and acquaintances”.

12. Answer: Magistrates court

Explanation: In the last two lines of paragraph D, “ When the authorities are satisfied that they have enough evidence, the local council applies to the magistrates court to have an ASBO imposed”.

13. Answer: Magistrates court

Explanation: In the first two lines of paragraph E, “We still haven’t decided what constitutes anti-social behaviour. It doesn’t have to be physical violence, of course, but is far easier to identify and deal with if it is”.

The Secret Schizoid Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics mentions the location and referring lines written in the reading passage.)

1. Answer: Engaging

Explanation: “Unlike the overtly schizoid or schizotypal individual who is characterised by aloofness, coldness and indifference, the secret schizoid may present himself as an engaging and interactive individual according to Klein”. With this line it is clear that whereas a typical schizoid might behave in an aloof or indifferent manner, the secret schizoid tends to appear, superficially at least, a very engaging person, and one who is capable of interacting very successfully with those around him. Hence the given answer is located in the 2-4 lines of paragraph A.

2. Answer: Defensive barrier

Explanation: “Schizoids are often extremely sensitive people and their defensive front exists for the sole purpose of protecting themselves from criticism with which they are incapable of coping”. With this line it is clear that the secret schizoid appears socially assured, but this is only a very good defensive put up to make it seem as if he is in tune with what is going on in the real world, whilst at the same time protecting him from it. Hence the given answer is located in the last 3 lines of paragraph G.

3. Answer: an act

Explanation: “It is also hypothesised that so-called secret schizoids are highly intelligent and have learned to develop their act as an effective coping mechanism which allows them to have the superficial relationships they so often crave without compromising that which they hold most valuable - their privacy.” with this line it is clear that the way the secret schizoid behaves in public is only an act , the outside world never gets a glimpse of his real self, which remains hidden. Hence the given answer is located in the last 4 lines of paragraph E.

4. Answer: public persona

Explanation: “What the schizoids fear most is the consequences of emotional intimacy, so by erecting an invisible barrier between their public persona and their real self, the schizoids can avoid ever having to confront this fear and yet lead a relatively active and inclusive lifestyle”. With this line it is clear that they are unwilling to try to overcome their innate fear of emotional intimacy, schizoids who wish to lead a full and inclusive life must develop a separate public persona and create an invisible barrier between this and their private self. Hence the given answer is located in the last 4 lines of paragraph C.

5. Answer: of reality

Explanation: “Though the two fall within the realms of the same family of illnesses, the schizophrenic personality disorder is far more destructive. Whereas schizoids can, depending on the severity of their affliction, function fairly normally and even form relationships with others (based on intellectual, physical, familial, occupational or recreational, but most certainly not emotional, activities), and have a relatively fair grasp of reality”. With this line it is clear that schizoids differ from schizophrenics in that they have a fairly decent understanding of reality and are not inclined to suffer from the same incapacitating symptoms, like hallucinations, delusions and disorganized thinking. Hence the given answer is located in the 1-6 lines of paragraph D.

6. Answer: vulnerable

Explanation: “It is true, however, that a family background of schizophrenia leaves one more vulnerable to or likely to develop a schizoid or schizotypal personality”. With this line it is clear that a history of schizophrenia in the family leaves a person more vulnerable to developing schizoid tendencies. Hence the answers are located in the last 2 lines of paragraph D.

7. Answer: parental affection/ parental attention

Explanation: “The causes of schizoid personality disorder are not clear, but it is theorised that an absence of parental affection and attention during early childhood may encourage the defensive tendencies and fear of intimacy that schizoids exhibit”. With this line it is clear that although it is not known what causes schizoid personality disorders, some suggest a lack of parental affection during the first few years of life is partly to blame. Hence the given answer is located in the first 3 lines of paragraph D.

The Discovery Of Baby Mammoth Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics mentions the location and referring lines written in the reading passage.)

11. Answer: Vegetable

Explanation: Mammoths became extinct between 14,000 and 10,000 years ago and since the extinctions coincided with the end of the most recent Ice age, many researchers believe that the primary cause of the great die-off was the sharp rise in temperature, which dramatically altered the vegetation. The given answer is located in the first 4 lines of paragraph B.

12. Answer: Human Hunting

Explanation: Fisher the tusks often revealed telltale evidence of human hunting. The given answer is located in the 6th line of paragraph D.

13. Answer: North America

Explanation: Analysis of her well-preserved DNA has revealed that she belonged to a distinct population of Mammuthus primigenius and that, soon after her time, another population migrating to Siberia from North America would take their place. The given answer is located in the 5-7 lines of paragraph F.

Finding The Lost Freedom Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics mentions the location and referring lines written in the reading passage.)

1. Answer: vii

Explanation:Back yards and playgrounds are for children'' is a strongly held belief. The given answer is located in the 4-5 lines of the 6th paragraph.

2. Answer: iii

Explanation: Residential streets are now places where cars must give way to pedestrians. The given answer is located in the 2nd line of the 7th paragraph.

3. Answer: vi

Explanation: Streets may also be for social interaction. The given answer is located in the 4th line of the 7th paragraph.

4. Answer: ix

Explanation: . The given answer is located in the 6-7 lines of the 7th paragraph.

5. Answer: ii

Explanation: Modifying cities in order to enhance children’s freedom will not only benefit children. Such cities will become more environmentally sustainable. The given answer is located in the first 2 lines of the 8th paragraph.

Sustainable Growth at Didcot Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics mentions the location and referring lines written in the reading passage.)

11. Answer: Low cost

Explanation: Low cost. The given answer is located in the 2nd line of paragraph G.

12. Answer: Infrastructure

Explanation: Infrastructure. The given answer is located in the 2nd line of paragraph H.

13. Answer: Strategic master plan.

Explanation: strategic master plan. The given answer is located in the last line of paragraph I.

Sustainable architecture lessons from ant Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics mentions the location and referring lines written in the reading passage.)

6. Ceiling vents

Explanation: ceiling vents. The given answer is located in the last line of 5th paragraph.

7. (the) (brick) chimneys

Explanation: The given answer is located in the last line of 5th paragraph as, brick chimneys

8. Cement arches

Explanation: The given answer is located in the last of 6th paragraph as, cement arches

9. (the) big fans

Explanation: The given answer is located in the beginning of 7th paragraph as, big fans

10. (the) (small) heaters

Explanation: The given answer is located in the last line of 7th paragraph as small heaters.

Ambergris Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics mentions the location and referring lines written in the reading passage.)

7 Answer: passage

Explanation: Based on the question, the answer must be a noun, which is the object of the verb enable. Given that the last phrase of this paragraph has all of the above-mentioned keywords, the answer, the object of the verb aid, should occur somewhere in this sentence, indicating that this passage is the proper solution to this question.

8 Answer: vomited

Explanation: We may infer from the question that the solution must be a verb, which sperm whales perform and which is formed by adding up. Furthermore, it is obvious that this verb should be in the passive voice. Consider the following portion of the sentence:"...associated with a sick condition, ambergris floats in pieces on the lake..." We select two verbs from this section: expel and vomit; expel up is not an acceptable phrasal verb. While vomiting is a legitimate phrasal verb, it would also be improper since the response must be a passive form of the verb. Vomiting should thus be the right response to this question.

9 Answer: hardens

Explanation: The question implies that the solution must be a single verb describing the ambergris condition, which describes the condition of ambergris after several months of air exposure. Consider the line, "After months to years of photodegradation and oxidation... it contains all of the aforementioned keywords, hence the right answer is (a verb) might be toughened."

Also, check IELTS academic reading short answer question

Conclusion

The tips, strategies, and exercises explained in this article will help to boost your skills Building and confidence in attempting the IELTS academic reading sentence completion question. We believe that this article will be more useful for you to achieve and practice an 8+ band score in the IELTS academic reading task along with mock test .