IELTS Academic Reading Summary Completion

IELTS academic reading summary completion is often asked in the IELTS academic reading test. Follow the tips and strategies given in this blog to solve the summary completion questions easily in IELTS exams. You'll either be provided a list of words to fill in the blanks with, or you'll be asked to find answers from the reading paragraphs. The proper keywords from the questions will help to locate the correct text in the reading passage.

Summary completion is the common question that appears in IELTS academic readings exams to assess your skills in grasping information from the text. Since it is all about the vocabulary, look for the keywords and their synonyms to complete the blanks with suitable words from the given reading passage.

Make your IELTS exam preparation simple by checking all the IELTS academic reading question types. Read the complete article to know more about the IELTS academic reading summary completion question type. The tips and strategies given in this blog will help you to level up your score in the IELTS academic reading module.

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Table of contents

1. IELTS Academic Reading summary completion - Strategies & tips to solve
2. Skills required to solve summary completion question
3. Common challenges faced while answering summary completion question
4. Summary Completion Practice Exercise 1
5. Summary Completion Practice Exercise 2
6. Summary Completion Practice Exercise 3
7. Summary Completion Practice Exercise 4
8. Summary Completion Practice Exercise 5
9. Summary Completion Practice Exercise 6
10. Summary Completion Practice Exercise 7
11. Summary Completion Practice Exercise 8
12. Summary Completion Practice Exercise 9
13. Summary Completion Practice Exercise 10
14. Answer for practice exercises
15. Conclusion

IELTS Academic Reading summary completion - How to Solve & Tips

You can find some pro IELTS academic reading summary completion tips & strategies to solve the summary completion question in IELTS academic reading test. Remembering all the points listed below will help you to solve the summary completion task easily. They are as follows,

1. Read the given paragraphs as it is. Do not attempt to solve the task without proper understanding of the summary’s main idea as information may be combined and therefore information may be rearranged.

2. Highlight the keywords, especially the ones close to the blanks as these are mostly unchanged or fairly identifiable in the text.

3. Highlight the signpost words or the pivotal words to help you navigate the passage. For example, “In addition/ and/also” etc. refer to information in continuation. “However/though/In contrast/but” etc. refer to a shift in idea or opinion or findings. This guides you to the required part of the passage.

4. Assume the answer in your mind so that you can pick the appropriate word. This will also help you to consider the required grammatical accuracy. Remember, basic grammar concepts and vocabulary are also assessed in this task.

5. Now you can move to the text and locate answers using the highlighted content. If the summary is the first question set for the passage, you may want to go through the passage first, but let the reading be cursory. Leave time to locate and register answers on the answer sheet.

6. If the summary is the last question set for the passage, you may not want to go back to the passage for all the answers. It will also be easy for you to navigate the passage as you are already familiar with most of it.

7. In this task, you are required to complete a summary with words and /or a number from the reading passage.

8. Remember that you should not exceed the word limit.

9. Read the heading of the incomplete text or summary ( if there is one) and go through the text to understand what it is about. It also gives you an idea of whether the summary covers a part of the passage or the entire passage.

10. Decide what type of word is required for the first blank e.g. a noun, an adjective, etc. Take note of the grammatical features, e.g. articles or prepositions which may help you to find the answer.

11. Do not pick any word as your answer which is already presented in any other form or as a synonym before or after the blank. You have to identify missing information. Do not repeat supplied information.

12. Remember that you cannot change the word form. It must be used exactly as presented in the passage

We believe that these IELTS academic reading summary completion tips & strategies will help you to get the desired band score. If interested in knowing about the tips required to crack the overall reading section, you can also read IELTS academic reading tips

Skills required to solve summary completion question

These are some of the skills required to solve the summary completion questions quickly in the IELTS academic reading test. They are as follows,

• Scan the passage to get the main idea
• Compare the summary with the given passage and spot the correct information
• Finding keywords
• Identifying synonyms and paraphrasing
• Predict the appropriate word that completes the sentence

Common challenges faced while answering summary completion question

Find some common issues you will encounter while answering summary completion questions in the IELTS academic reading exams. Try to avoid such mistakes to level up your band scores.

• A common mistake is not reading the instructions properly
• Wasting time by reading the whole text - Go through the summary with blanks and compare it to the passage
• Looking for the exact word in the given passage - either it's better to look for synonyms and paraphrasing
• One of the simple mistakes that we can say is grammar - You must be aware of grammar mistakes.
• Searching for a single answer for a long time may ruin your time

Summary Completion Practice Exercise 1

Evolution Of Museums Reading Passage

Part A

The very first museums of the world were private collections of objects by wealthy people and institutions. The objects in these museums were displayed in Cabinets of Curiosities, also called Cabinets of Wonder or Wonder Rooms. The word “cabinet” was then used to describe a room and not a piece of furniture. The oldest recorded example of such was the Ennigaldi Nanna’s museum that was located in Mesopotamia. It was founded in 530 BC.

Before the 18th century, only elite or respectable members of society, by the standards of that era, could visit museums with permission from the owner and the staff. The first museums to be opened for the general public were the British Museum in London in 1759 and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in 1765. However, even though they were no longer exclusive places, only people from the middle and upper class were privileged with a written permission request. Also, the visitations were often limited to a few hours. The first public museum in its true sense was the Louvre in Paris which was opened in 1793 to people of any status and age, emerging as an agent of nationalistic fervor.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, societies began to regard museums as centers of the production of new knowledge. Historical museums shifted focus to display scientific discoveries and artistic developments with collections that could be useful for research also. Over the twentieth century, as cities increased in size, wealth, and population, more museums developed. These were shaped by the public response to education and entertainment. Greater funding was directed towards the development of modern museums. Study programs dedicated to the field of art and culture were created to promote the growth of museums, and activities such as the collection and preservation of artifacts such as paintings or sculptures had consequently become more organized. Even wealthy industrialists such as Henry Ford and Henry Mercer contributed their collections leading to the development of more privately run museums.

Part B

A breeze of change was once again felt in the early 21st century. Museums were no longer anchored to the national ideal and today’s new museums attract intellectuals as well as tourists and students. Attitudes toward museums have become more favorable as people no longer view them as boring, cold places that drag you to the past.

One of the main factors that have contributed to this is technology. Modern museums have embraced technology with considerable use of multimedia, digital displays, touch screens as well as other interactive technologies. Some museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, use technology that allows visitors to see the objects, hear or read about the collection on their smartphones by scanning the artwork. Other national museums have also followed suit by embracing mobile interactivity. The Smithsonian Institution, which is the world’s largest museum and research complex containing 19 museums and galleries, provides cell phone tours, interactive games like Pheon, which is a multimedia scavenger hunt game, multilingual slideshows, and even augmented reality apps such as one from the postal museum showing Owney, the mascot of the Railway Mail Service.

Additionally, there are some museums such as the National Museum of African Art that have the Artists in Dialogue 2 app, which allows for visual calls and responses that cut across physical and political borders. The app facilitates a guided tour of the museum with the curator virtually, and also allows the user to experiment with the artistic technique in a virtual art-development game. The user can even communicate with active groups of the museum on social media.

So far, technology has provided modern-day museums with the opportunity to share images and works of art with more people than ever before. However, the conclusion is that technology is enhancing and not replacing the brick and mortar museums since technology cannot replace a live experience for the viewer such as live interaction with the experts, emotional reactions, and the physicality of artworks.

Questions 1 - 5

Complete the summary below.

Write ONE WORD ONLY from Part A of the passage for each answer.

The earliest museums displayed personal 1______ belonging to rich people, and until the eighteenth century, only the elite class could visit these places. In the latter half of the century, the British Museum and the Uffizi Gallery opened their doors for the 2 _______, but not without restrictions. Finally, in 1793, the Louvre in Paris allowed access irrespective of class and 3 _______ and became a key factor in promoting nationalistic emotions.

By the early twentieth century, museums had started gaining recognition as centers of knowledge. The 4 ______ had moved from history to art and science. During this century, with urbanization and more funds coming in, museums were modified to provide learning as well as 5 _______.

Questions 6 - 9

Complete the summary based on Part B of the passage using the list of words, A- G, below.

Museums of 21st century

Modern museums have become 6 ________ places to visit with the adoption of various interactive technologies. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, visitors can get 7________ about any artwork by scanning it through their smartphones. The National Museum of African Art provides the opportunity for a virtual 8 ________ with the curator, artists, and social media groups through an app. Thus, the latest technology is 9 _______ the existing museums by giving an enriched experience to the visitors.

A - dull
B - communication
C - information
D - tour
E - interesting
F - complementing
G - replacing

Summary Completion Practice Exercise 2

The Origin Of The Earth And The Universe - Different TheoriesReading Passage

When we talk of evolution, we generally refer to the biological evolution of living beings. However, evolution also refers to the processes by which galaxies, stars, planets, and the universe come into existence and change. Though these processes are quite different, the common fact is the change over time. But for centuries scientists held the belief that the universe always remained the same.

In 1929, Edwin Hubble, an American astronomer, made an interesting observation that distant galaxies and stars are moving away from the Earth in all directions. This led to Hubble’s hypothesis that the universe is not static but is expanding. He also discovered that the speeds with which galaxies are racing away from each other increase with the increasing distances between them and this has been proved now by various repeated measurements.

Certain deductions can be made from Hubble’s hypothesis of an expanding universe. One of them is that in a previous era the universe was more condensed. This suggests that all the matter and energy in the universe were earlier condensed in a tiny and extremely hot mass. A massive explosion, called the Big Bang, occurred around 13.8 billion years ago and it sent energy and matter expanding in every direction at a very high speed.

As the universe continued to expand, matter gathered into clouds that started to condense and then rotate, forming the predecessors of the galaxies. Due to the changes in pressure inside galaxies, including our own Milky Way, dust and gas formed distinct clouds. Further, some of these clouds collapsed due to the gravitational attraction as there was enough mass, and the correct forces were at play. When the cloud material mass was adequately compressed, nuclear reactions took place leading to the birth of a star. Our sun, for example, formed in the center of a flattened spinning disk of matter.

After the formation of the sun, the remaining dust and gas present in this disk collided and clumped into grains which further combined to form very small planets called planetesimals. Some of these were several hundred kilometers in diameter. These planetesimals then coalesced into nine planets with many satellites. The rocky planets like Earth were formed near the sun, while gaseous planets were located in distant orbits.

According to another theory, which is propounded by some religions as well as scientists, the universe was created by God. This theory also termed ‘theistic evolution, claims that God is the driving force behind the physical and biological evolution that created the solar system and life on Earth. The proponents of this creationist theory have various viewpoints. Some feel that the Earth and universe are comparatively young - around 6,000 to 10,000 years old. These people also believe that the existing form of Earth is due to ‘catastrophism’ which included a worldwide flood, and there was miraculous creation of humans and all living things as they are today.

There are other advocates of creationist theory who accept the fact that the Earth, the stars, and the planets could have been in existence a million years ago. However, they argue that the presence of living organisms, especially humans, is due to the intervention of supernatural powers as creation shows ‘intelligent design.’ Even though such theories abound, there is no valid scientific information that suggests that Earth came into being only a few thousand years ago.

It is not surprising that there are so many theories trying to explain the origins of the Earth and the universe, as the vastness of space has always fascinated mankind. However, one has to ask, will researchers ever be able to prove what led to the creation of the universe and our wonderful planet or will we have to satisfy ourselves with various theories and conjectures? Only time will tell.

Questions 1 - 7

Complete the summary below.

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

The belief regarding the permanence of the universe was contradicted when in 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that the various celestial bodies are receding from 1 _______ in every direction and the speeds of recession are directly related to growing 2 _______. It gave the theory of a 3 _________ universe. It can be inferred from Hubble’s hypothesis that initially, the universe was extremely hot and highly 4________ and a huge explosion resulted in its continuing expansion. Gradually, the matter combined to form clouds that started rotating, resulting in galaxies. In the presence of the right forces, physical and chemical interactions took place within the galaxies. Consequently, stars and other celestial bodies evolved from the gas and 5 ______.

On the other hand, according to ‘theistic evolution’ theory, God has created the universe. Though the supporters of this view are divided over the age of the Earth, and a group believes that the Earth evolved in its present form due to 6 _______, they all agree that all life forms especially humans are the creation of God due to their 7 ________.

Summary Completion Practice Exercise 3

An Era of Abundance Reading Passage

Our Knowledge of the complex pathways underlying digestive processes is rapidly expanding, although there is still a great deal we do not fully understand. On the one hand, digestion, like any other major human biological system, is astonishing in its intricacy and cleverness. Our bodies manage to extract the complex resources needed to survive, despite sharply varying conditions, while at the same time, filtering out a multiplicity of toxins.

On the other hand, our bodies evolved in a very different era. Our digestive processes, in particular, are optimized for a situation that is dramatically dissimilar to the one we find ourselves in. For most of our biological heritage, there was a high likelihood that the next foraging or hunting season (and for a brief, relatively recent period, the next planting season) might be catastrophically lean. So, it made sense for our bodies to hold on to every possible calorie. Today, this biological strategy is extremely counterproductive. Our outdated metabolic programming underlies our contemporary epidemic of obesity and fuels pathological processes of degenerative diseases such as coronary artery disease, and type ll diabetes.

Up until recently (on an evolutionary timescale), it was not in the interest of the species for old people like myself (I was born in 1948) to use up the limited resources of the clan. Evolution favored a short lifespan-life expectancy was 37 years only two centuries ago-so these restricted reserves could be devoted to the young, those caring for them, and laborers strong enough to perform intense physical work. We now live in an era of great material abundance. Most work requires mental effort rather than physical exertion. A century ago, 30 percent of the U.S. workforce worked on farms, with another 30 percent deployed in factories. Both of these figures are now under 3 percent. The significant majority of today's job categories, ranging from airline flight attendants to web designers, simply didn't exist a century ago.

Our species has already augmented the “natural” order of our life cycle through our technology: drugs, supplements, replacement parts for virtually all bodily systems, and many other interventions. We already have devices to replace our hips, knees, shoulders, elbows, wrists, jaws, teeth, skin, arteries, veins, heart valves, arms, legs, feet, fingers, and toes. Systems to replace more complex organs (for example, our hearts) are beginning to work. As we're learning the principles of operation of the human body and the brain, we will soon be in a position to design vastly superior systems that will be more enjoyable, last longer, and perform better, without susceptibility to breakdown, disease, and aging.

In a famous scene from the movie, The Graduate, Benjamin's mentor gives him career advice in a single word: "plastics." Today, that word might be "software," or "biotechnology”. but in another couple of decades, the word is likely to be "nanobots." Nanobots-blood-cell-sized robots will provide the means to radically redesign our digestive systems, and incidentally, just about everything else.

Questions 1-8

Complete the summary below.

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

In the past it was essential to hoard our calories for as long as possible because our food source was mainly restricted to 1 __________or 2 __________which brought in irregular supplies. However, these reserves were intended for the young or 3. _________ Because they had the power and energy to work hard. Nowadays, the focus has moved away from jobs on 4. __________and in 5. ___________to jobs that were not available 6. ____________. Through technology, it has now become possible to replace body 7. ____________and as techniques improve we will be able to develop better 8. __________to improve the quality of life.

Summary Completion Practice Exercise 4

Philippine Mats

The Philippines generates a large number of mats due to the high domestic demand. The sleeping mat1 is there in all Christian places and among the Moros. These mats are of higher quality, and they are usually more or less heavily decorated with colored straws in a combination of designs. Buri petates are more extensively produced for this function than those derived from any other material. Pandan mats are regarded to be more durable and cooler than buri mats, but their use is limited, owing to their higher cost. Tikug mats are very important in the Visayas.

Mats are also used in the baling of tobacco and abaca, two of the Philippines' primary goods. Mats of dried banana petioles are used in the Cagayan valley. Many of these are manufactured in Batac, Ilocos Norte, and sent to Cagayan from there. In most cases, Visayas tobacco is also put in these mats. Banana petiole mats are produced as a by-product of the sabá textile industry in Argao, Cebu. The outer skin of the petiole is stripped off for fiber extraction, and the remaining section, known as "upag," is dried and woven into coarse mats by children. These are guided to as "bastos"2 or "liplip," and they are either provided to the town's tobacco balers or shipped to Cebu and other cities for baling.

Abaca is usually always wrapped in coarse buri mats for export. Weaving these mats in specific locations where the buri palm is prevalent and transporting them to hemp-producing towns are essential companies because baling is only done in big seaports, like Manila and Cebu.

Plaited sacks are woven in the exact weave as mats and are related to sugar and rice in the identical way that mats are linked to tobacco and abaca. Buri sacks are used to transport nearly all of the domestic rice production into commerce, as well as almost all of the export sugar. Pandan is used to create a few bayones. Bayonet manufacturing is an effective industry in some districts.

Questions 1- 8

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

The Philippines produces a lot of the mats because of the enormous 1 __________ need for them. 2 ___________ are more extensively produced for this function than those derived from any other material. Pandan mats are regarded to be more 3 ____________ and cooler than buri mats, but their use is limited, owing to their higher cost. Tikug mats are very important in the 4 __________. Mats of dried banana petioles are used in the 5 __________ valley. The outer skin of the petiole is stripped off for fiber extraction, and the remaining section, known as 6 __________ is dried and woven into coarse mats by children. 7 __________ is usually always wrapped in coarse buri mats for export. Buri sacks are used to transport nearly all of the domestic rice production into 8 ____________, as well as almost all of the export sugar.

Summary Completion Practice Exercise 5

Glow-Worms Reading Answers

A
The glow-worm belongs to a family of beetles known as the Lampyridae or fireflies. The fireflies are a huge group containing over 2000 species, with new ones being discovered all the time. The feature which makes fireflies and glow-worms so appealing is their ability to produce an often dazzling display of light. The light is used by the adult fireflies as a signal to attract a mate, and each species must develop its own 'call-sign' to avoid being confused with other species glowing nearby. So within any one area each species will differ from its neighbours in some way, for example in the colour or pattern of its light, how long the pulses of light last, the interval between pulses and whether it displays in flight or from the ground.

B
The firefly’s almost magical light has attracted human attention for generations. It is described in an ancient Chinese encyclopaedia written over 2000 years ago by a pupil of Confucius. Fireflies are often featured in Japanese and Arabian folk medicine. All over the world they have been the inspiration for countless poems, paintings and stories. In Britain, for example, there are plenty of anecdotes describing how glow-worms have been used to read by or used as emergency bicycle lamps when a cyclist's batteries have failed without warning. Early travellers in the New World came back with similar stories, of how the native people of Central America would collect a type of click beetle and release them indoors to light up their huts. Girls threaded them around their feet to illuminate the forest paths at night.

Fireflies very similar to those we see today have been found fossilised in rocks which were formed about 30 million years ago, and their ancestors were probably glowing long before then. It is impossible to be sure exactly when and where the first firefly appeared. The highest concentrations of firefly species today are to be found in the tropics of South America, which may mean either that this is where they first evolved, or simply that they prefer the conditions there.

Wherever they first arose, fireflies have since spread to almost every part of the globe. Today members of the firefly family can be found almost anywhere outside the Arctic and Antarctic circles.

C
As with many insects,the glow-worm's life is divided into four distinct stages: the egg, the larva (equivalent to the caterpillar of a butterfly), the pupa (or chrysalis) and the adult. The glow-worm begins its life in the autumn as a pale yellow egg. The freshly laid egg is extremely fragile but within a day its surface has hardened into a shell. The egg usually takes about 35 days to hatch, but the exact time varies according to the temperature, from about 27 days in hot weather to more than 45 days in cold weather. By the time it is due to hatch, the glow-worm's light organ is fully developed, and its glow signals that the egg will soon hatch.

After it has left the egg, the larva slowly grows from a few millimetres into the size and shape of a matchstick. The larval stage is the only time the insect can feed. The larva devotes much of its life to feeding and building up its food reserves so that as an adult it will be free to concentrate all its efforts on the task of finding a mate and reproducing. Throughout its time as a larva, approximately 15 months, the glow-worm emits a bright light. The larva's light is much fainter than the adult female's but it can still be seen more than five metres away.

In the final stage of a glow-worm's life, the larva encases itself in a pupa) skin while it changes from the simple larva to the more complex adult fly. When the adult fly emerges from the pupa the male seeks a female with whom it can mate. After mating, the female lays about 120 eggs. The adult flies have no mouth parts, cannot eat and therefore only live a few days. When people talk of seeing a glow-worm they normally mean the brightly glowing adult female.

D
In some countries the numbers of glow-worms have been falling. Evidence suggests that there has been a steady decrease in the British glow-worm population since the 1950s and possibly before that. Possible causes for the decline include habitat destruction, pollution and changes in climate. Thousands of acres of grassland have been built upon and glow-worm sites have become increasingly isolated from each other. The widespread use of pesticides and fertilisers may also have endangered the glow-worm. Being at the top of a food chain it is likely to absorb any pollutants eaten by the snails on which it feeds. The effect of global warming on rainfall and other weather patterns may also be playing a part in the disappearance of glow-worms. A lot more research will be needed, however, before the causes of the glow-worm's gradual decline are clear.

E
Although glow-worms are found wherever conditions are damp, food is in good supply and there is an overhanging wall, they are most spectacular in caves. For more than 100 years the glow-worm caves in New Zealand have attracted millions of people from all over the world. The caves were first explored in 1887 by a local Maori chief, Tane Tinorau, and an English surveyor, Fred Mace. They built a raft and, with candles as their only light, they floated into the cave where the stream goes underground. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness they saw myriad lights reflecting off the water. Looking up they discovered that the ceiling was dotted with the lights of thousands of glow-worms. They returned many times to explore further, and on an independent trip Tane discovered the upper level of the cave and an easier access. The authorities were advised and government surveyors mapped the caves. By 1888 Tane Tinorau had opened the cave to tourists.

Questions

Questions 1-6

• The reading passage has five sections labelled A-E.
• Which section contains the following information?
• Write the correct letter A-E in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
• NB You may use any letter more than once.

1 Threats to the glow-worm
2Ways in which glow-worms have been used
3 Variations in type of glow-worm
4 Glow-worm distribution
5 Glow-worms becoming an attraction
6 The life-cycle of a glow-worm

Summary Completion Practice Exercise 6

Crisis fresh water

A . As in New Delhi and Phoenix, policymakers worldwide wield great power over how water resources and managed. Wise use of such power will become increasingly important as the years go by because the world’s demand for freshwater is currently overtaking its ready supply in many places, and this situation shows no sign of abating.

B . That the problem is well-known makes it no less disturbing: today one out of six people, more than a billion, suffer inadequate access to safe freshwater. By 2025, according to data released by the United Nations, the freshwater resources of more than half the countries across the globe will undergo either stress- for example, when people increasingly demand more water than is available or safe for use-or outright shortages. By mid-century, as much as three-quarters of the earth’s population could face scarcities of freshwater.

C . Scientists expect water scarcity to become more common in large part because the world’s population is rising and many people are getting richer (thus expanding demand) and because global climate change is exacerbating aridity and reducing supply in many regions. What is more, many water sources are threatened by faulty waste disposal, releases of industrial pollutants, fertilizer runoff, and coastal influxes of saltwater into aquifers as groundwater is depleted.

D . Because lack of access to water can lead to starvation, disease, political instability, and even armed conflict, failure to take action can have broad and grave consequences. Fortunately, to a great extent, the technologies and policy tools required to conserve existing freshwater and to secure more of it are known among which several seem particularly effective. What is needed now is action. Governments and authorities at every level have to formulate and execute plans for implementing the political, economic, and technological measures that can ensure water security now and in the coming decades.

E . The world’s water problems require, as a start, an understanding of how much freshwater each person requires, along with knowledge of the factors that impede supply and increase demand in different parts of the world. Main Falkenmark of the Stockholm International Water Institute and other experts estimate that, on average, each person on the earth needs a minimum of 1000 cubic meters (m3) of water. The minimum water each person requires for drinking, hygiene, and growing food. The volume is equivalent to two-fifths of an Olympic-size swimming pool.

F . Much of the Americas and northern Eurasia enjoy abundant water supplies. But several regions are beset by greater or lesser degrees of “physical” scarcity-whereby demand exceeds local availability. Other areas, among them Central Africa, parts of the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia contend with “economic” water scarcity limit access even though sufficient supplies are available.

G. More than half of the precipitation that falls on land is never available for capture or storage because it evaporates from the ground or transpires from plants; this fraction is called blue-water sources-rivers, lakes, wetlands, and aquifers-that people can tap directly. Farm irrigation from these free-flowing bodies is the biggest single human use of freshwater resources, but the intense local demand they create often drains the surroundings of ready supplies.

H . Lots of water, but not always where it is needed one hundred and ten thousand cubic kilometers of precipitation, nearly 10 times the volume of Lake Superior, falls from the sky onto the earth’s land surface every year. This huge quantity would easily fulfill the requirements of everyone on the planet if the water arrived where and when people needed it. But much of it cannot be captured (top), and the rest is disturbed unevenly (bottom). Green water (61.1% of total precipitation): absorbed by soil and plants, then released back into the air: unavailable for withdrawal. Bluewater (38.8% of total precipitation): collected in rivers, lakes, wetlands, and groundwater: available for withdrawal before it evaporates or reaches the ocean. These figures may not add up to 100% because of rounding. Only 1.5% is directly used by people.

I . Waters run away in tremendous wildfires in recent years. The economic actors had all taken their share reasonably enough: they just did not consider the needs of the natural environment, which suffered greatly when its inadequate supply was reduced to critical levels by drought. The members of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission are now frantically trying to extricate themselves from the disastrous results of their misallocation of the total water resource. Given the difficulties of sensibly apportioning the water supply within a single nation, imagine the complexities of doing so for international river basins such as that of the Jordan River, which borders on Lebanon, Syria, Israel, the Palestinian areas, and Jordan, all of which have claims to the shared, but limited, supply in an extremely parched region. The struggle for freshwater has contributed to civil and military disputes in the area. Only continuing negotiations and compromises have kept this tense situation under control.

Questions 11-13

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using No More than Three words from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 11–13 on your answer sheet.

Many severe problems like starvation and military actions etc result from the storage of water which sometimes for some areas seems 11__________
because of unavailability but other regions suffer another kind of scarcity for insufficient support. 12_________ of the rainfall can’t be achieved because of evaporation.
Some other parts form the 13______________ which can be used immediately. Water to irrigate the farmland takes a considerable amount along with the use for cities and industries and the extended need from the people involved.

Summary Completion Practice Exercise 7

Directions for purchasing Bees Reading Answers

The best time to establish an Apiary is from the middle of February to the middle of March, the stocks will have passed in safety through the winter, the combs are then empty of brood, the light of honey, and the removal safe and easy. Stocks should be selected by a competent judge, as the weight alone cannot be relied on, a swarm of the preceding year should be selected, and one that contains not less than twelve pounds of honey; there are few commodities in which a person can be so easily deceived as in a hive of Bees.

I would therefore recommend the young Apiarian to take the opinion of some experienced person before he makes his purchase, a hive of the preceding year can only be known by a close inspection of the combs, which but few persons have the courage to engage in; if the hive is not of the preceding year its weight is no criterion of its value, for an old hive always contains a large quantity of the pollen or dust of flowers which the Bees carry home on their legs, especially in the Spring and Autumn, it is an essential ingredient in the food with which they nourish their young, but good for nothing else, indeed the Bees will die of hunger upon the combs that are filled with it:—"Yet," says Gelieu, "they lay up useless hoards of it, which they go on augmenting every year, and this is the only point on which they can be accused of a want of that prudence and foresight so admirable in every other respect."

The Bees appear to be aware of the perishable nature of this substance, for they never fill a cell entirely with it, but leave room for a small quantity of honey in each cell containing pollen, before it is sealed up, by this means the air is most effectually excluded, and the pollen preserved for a considerable time; should, however, the Bees be compelled to consume the honey from those cells containing pollen before they can make use of it for their young, it moulds and becomes of no value, and causes them great labour to remove it. For when in this state, they have no means of displacing it but by eating away the cells in which it is contained, and conveying it out of their hives in small pieces, about the size of peas, hard and mouldy. I have seen the entrance of old hives in the month of April almost filled up with the pellets of mouldy farina.

The process is tedious, takes up much time, and the ravages made by it upon the combs appear irreparable; still in a short space of time, if the weather is favourable, the combs are repaired, as if no injury had befallen them, and filled with honey or brood. It is a very heavy substance, so that if weight be the only criterion, farina will be purchased instead of honey, therefore in the purchase of old stocks it will be necessary they should weigh eight pounds more than swarms of the preceding year; in the purchase of swarms less experience is necessary, and by attending to the following rules the young Apiarian will not be imposed upon.1st. That the swarm is purchased before the 14th of June, the longer before that time the better.

2ndly. That it does not weigh less than three pounds and a half. I have known some swarms to weigh six pounds, but this is of rare occurrence.
It is very important to observe, that when a swarm of Bees is purchased it must be removed to the place in which it is to remain, upon the evening of the day it swarmed, for should the removal be delayed even till the next day, the combs will in all probability be broken and the stock destroyed.

I should recommend the purchaser to send his own hive to the person of whom he intends to buy a swarm and to desire him not to put any sticks across the interior of the hive, as is the usual custom, for they cause much trouble to the Bees in forming their combs, and render their extraction almost impossible. The prosperity of the hive will much (perhaps entirely) depend upon its being finally placed upon the evening of the day it swarmed.

Questions 1-8

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

From the middle of February to the middle of 1 ___________ is the best time to establish an 2 ____________. Bees leave room for a 3 _____________ quantity of honey with even a single cell containing pollen. A 4 __________ of the preceding year should be selected is not only depending on the weight, the one that, does not have less than 5 ___________ pounds of honey. The young 6 ______________ recommended to take opinion on some experienced person before make his purchase. It is very important to observe, when a swarm of Bees is purchased it must be removed to the place in which it is to remain, upon the 7 __________ of the day it swarmed, for should the removal be delayed even till the next day… The hive 8 __________ will much depend upon its being finally placed upon the evening of the day it swarmed.

Summary Completion Practice Exercise 8

True and false humour Reading Answers

Among all kinds of writing, there is none in which authors are more apt to miscarry than in works of humor, as there is none in which they are more ambitious to excel. It is not an imagination that teems with monsters, a head that is filled with extravagant conceptions, which is capable of furnishing the world with diversions of this nature; and yet, if we look into the productions of several writers, who set up for men of humor, what wild, irregular fancies, what unnatural distortions of thought do we meet with? If they speak nonsense, they believe they are talking humor; and when they have drawn together a scheme of absurd, inconsistent ideas, they are not able to read it over to themselves without laughing.

These poor gentlemen endeavor to gain themselves the reputation of wits and humorists, by such monstrous conceits as almost qualify them for Bedlam; not considering that humor should always lie under the check of reason and that it requires the direction of the nicest judgment, by so much the more as it indulges itself in the most boundless freedoms. There is a kind of nature that is to be observed in this sort of compositions, as well as in all other; and a certain regularity of thought which must discover the writer to be a man of sense, at the same time that he appears altogether given up to caprice. For my part, when I read the delirious mirth of an unskilful author, I cannot be so barbarous as to divert myself with it but am rather apt to pity the man, than to laugh at anything he writes.

The deceased Mr. Shadwell, who had himself a great deal of the talent which I am treating of, represents an empty rake, in one of his plays, as very much surprised to hear one say that breaking of windows was not humor; and I question not but several English readers will be as much startled to hear me affirm, that many of those raving, incoherent pieces, which are often spread among us, under odd chimerical titles, are rather the offsprings of a distempered brain than works of humor.

It is, indeed, much easier to describe what is not humor than what is; and very difficult to define it otherwise than as Cowley has done wit, by negatives. Were I to give my own notions of it, I would deliver them after Plato’s manner, in a kind of allegory, and, by supposing Humour to be a person, deduce to him all his qualifications, according to the following genealogy. The truth was the founder of the family and the father of Good Sense. Good Sense was the father of Wit, who married a lady of a collateral line called Mirth, by whom he had issue Humour.

Humour, therefore, being the youngest of this illustrious family, and descended from parents of such different dispositions, is very various and unequal in his temper; sometimes you see him putting on grave looks and a solemn habit, sometimes airy in his behavior and fantastic in his dress; insomuch that at different times he appears as serious as a judge, and as jocular as a merry-andrew. But, as he has a great deal of the mothers in his constitution, whatever mood he is in, he never fails to make his company laugh.

But since there is an impostor abroad, who takes upon him the name of this young gentleman, and would willingly pass for him in the world; to the end that well-meaning persons may not be imposed upon by cheats, I would desire my readers, when they meet with this pretender, to look into his parentage, and to examine him strictly, whether or no he be remotely allied to Truth, and lineally descended from Good Sense; if not, they may conclude him a counterfeit. They may likewise distinguish him by loud and excessive laughter, in which he seldom gets his company to join with him. For as True Humour generally looks serious while everybody laughs about him, False Humour is always laughing whilst everybody about him looks serious. I shall only add if he has not in him a mixture of both parents—that is, if he would pass for the offspring of Wit without Mirth or Mirth without Wit, you may conclude him to be altogether spurious and a cheat.

Questions 1-8

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

There is a kind of nature that is to be observed in this sort of 1 ___________, as well as in all others; and a certain regularity of thought which must discover the writer to be a man of 2 __________, at the same time that he appears altogether given up to 3 ___________. Among all kinds of writing, there is none in which authors are more apt to miscarry than in works of 4 _________, as there is none in which they are more ambitious to excel. The truth was the 5 ________ of the family and the father of Good Sense. Good Sense was the father of Wit, who married a lady of a 6 ________ called Mirth, by whom he had issue Humour. 7 _________ humour generally looks serious while everybody laughs about him, False Humour is always laughing whilst everybody about him looks 8 _________.

Summary Completion Practice Exercise 9

The Feminist Missionary Reading Answers

Western feminism, exported to India and many other third world countries in recent decades, has brought with it serious problems. It's not that we don't know what to do with it, that women's significance and dignity are alien to us. In fact, we Indians have a much longer history of individual women's assertiveness than the West, and a well-established tradition of making space for women whose aspirations draw them beyond stereotypical paths. Rather, the problem is that feminism has acted as a tool of cultural imperialism. In its Indian form, it has clouded issues and advocated harmful tactics rather than served as a liberating force. Many ideologies emanating from the West adopt a proselytizing role. Their underlying assumption is that all those who refuse to be converted are steeped in ignorance or stupidity. Western feminists display missionary zeal-they're eager to save souls and tend to look down upon, be hostile to, or at least pity those not already converted. For instance, most feminists - Western and Indian alike - react with hostility to my refusal to be labelled as such.

It took me a long time to understand the reason: Anyone refusing to be counted as a convert seems to be challenging feminism's own tenet that it has universal applicability, that it's a superior state of being, and that only feminists stand up for the rights of women. I personally find the term an avoidable burden. It means nothing to most Indians. Neither feminism's history nor its symbolism evokes any response whatsoever among the majority of Indian women. As products of a more homogenized culture, most Western feminists assume a woman's aspirations the world over must be quite similar. Yet a person's idea of a good life and her aspirations are closely related to what is valued in her particular society. This applies to feminism itself. An offshoot of individualism and liberalism, it posits that each individual is responsible primarily to herself. At the same time, most feminists view the state as a vital agency for the protection of their individual rights. This view has served to atomize Western societies, often leaving people with only the authority and support of the state (and not even their family) for protection of their rights when they are violated by others. In societies like India, most of us find it difficult to tune in to this extreme individualism. For instance, most Indian women are unwilling to assert rights in a way that estranges them not just from their family but also from their larger community.

They want to ensure their rights are respected and acknowledged by their family and prefer to avoid asserting their rights in a way that isolates them. This isn't slavery to social opinion. Rather, many of us believe life is a poor thing if our own dear ones don't honour and celebrate our rights, if our freedom cuts us off from others. In our culture, both men and women are taught to value the interests of our families more than our self-interest. (Most feminists consider this world view a product of low self-esteem.) Cultural issues aside, my most fundamental reservation regarding feminism is that it has strengthened the tendency among India's Western-educated elites to adopt the statist authoritarian route to social reform. The characteristic feminist response to most social issues affecting women-in the workplace, in the media, in the home-is to demand more and more stringent laws. The results in most cases do not better women's lives but rather facilitate a whole spate of vicious and harmful legislation which has put even more arbitrary powers in the hands of the police and government-powers that are routinely abused.

Most of the feminists' energies are spent appealing to governments to enforce the social reforms they've proposed. But dearly held and deeply cherished cultural norms cannot be changed simply by applying the instruments of state repression through legal punishment. Social reform is too complex and important a matter to be left to the police and courts. The best of laws will tend to fail if social opinion is contrary to them. Therefore, the statist route of using laws as a substitute for creating a new social consensus about women's rights tends to be counter-productive. The final problem with Third-World feminism is that its aspirations are largely directed Westward. Most feminist organizations in India and in other developing countries are dependent on Western funding agencies, and accountable primarily to them rather than to the society they claim to serve.

Their priorities and agendas are prone to change from year to year depending on the availability of funds. The moment the United Nations declares the year of the girl child, everyone gets busy planning seminars, writing, researching and making films on the girl child. If the next year gets declared the year of the media, the girl child is forgotten and the focus shifts to media representation of women. It is the same in the academic world. From structuralism to deconstructionism to post-modernism, the compass needle keeps swinging, depending on what brings in easy grants, jobs and recognition. This occurs even as it leads feminists towards such an esoteric vocabulary that regular women don't comprehend a word of it. It also leads feminists toward irrelevance.

Questions 6-13

Complete the summary of the reading passage below. Choose your answers from the box below.
NB: There are more words/phrases than you will need to fill the gaps. You may use a word or phrase more than once if you wish.

Madhu Kishwar describes three main problems associated with the introduction of Western feminism to Third World countries such as India.
The first is that it becomes a form of 6__________, assuming that ideals of individualism and liberalism form the 7__________ grounding for women′s aspirations. Secondly, she claims that Western feminism encourages dependence on the state for the 8______________ of individual rights. She sees a dependence on legal channels as likely to give 9____________ powers to the police and to government officials. The third problem is that because feminist organizations in developing countries depend on Western 10____________, their focus moves to match the aims of these funding agencies, 11____________ on the needs and aspirations of women in their own 12__________. She suggests placing greater reliance on a 13___________ which is firmly grounded in the culture of the community concerned

Summary Completion Practice Exercise 10

Communication in Science Reading Answers

A. Science plays an increasingly significant role in people’s lives, making the faithful communication of scientific developments more important than ever. Yet such communication is fraught with challenges that can easily distort discussions, leading to unnecessary confusion and misunderstandings.

B. Some problems stem from the esoteric nature of current research and the associated difficulty of finding sufficiently faithful terminology. Abstraction and complexity are not signs that a given scientific direction is wrong, as some commentators have suggested, but are instead a tribute to the success of human ingenuity in meeting the increasingly complex challenges that nature presents. They can, however, make communication more difficult. But many of the biggest challenges for science reporting arise because in areas of evolving research, scientists themselves often only partly understand the full implications of any particular advance or development. Since that dynamic applies to most of the scientific developments that directly affect people’s lives, global warming, cancer research, diet studies – learning how to overcome it is critical to spurring a more informed scientific debate among the broader public.

C. Ambiguous word choices are the source of some misunderstandings. Scientists often employ colloquial terminology, which they then assign a specific meaning that is impossible to fathom without proper training. The term “relativity,” for example, is intrinsically misleading. Many interpret the theory to mean that everything is relative and there are no absolutes. Yet although the measurements any observer makes depend on his coordinates and reference frame, the physical phenomena he measures have an invariant description that transcends that observer’s particular coordinates. Einstein’s theory of relativity is really about finding an invariant description of physical phenomena. True, Einstein agreed with the idea that his theory would have been better named “Invarianten theorie.” But the term “relativity” was already entrenched at the time for him to change.

D. “The uncertainty principle” is another frequently abused term. It is sometimes interpreted as a limitation on observers and their ability to make measurements.

E. But it is not about intrinsic limitations on any one particular measurement; it is about the inability to precisely measure particular pairs of quantities simultaneously? The first interpretation is perhaps more engaging from a philosophical or political perspective. It’s just not what science is about.

F. Even the word “theory” can be a problem. Unlike most people, who use the word to describe a passing conjecture that they often regard as suspect, physicists have very specific ideas in mind when they talk about theories. For physicists, theories entail a definite physical framework embodied in a set of fundamental assumptions about the world that lead to a specific set of equations and predictions – ones that are borne out by successful predictions. Theories aren’t necessarily shown to be correct or complete immediately. Even Einstein took the better part of a decade to develop the correct version of his theory of general relativity. But eventually both the ideas and the measurements settle down and theories are either proven correct, abandoned or absorbed into other, more encompassing theories.

G. “Global warming” is another example of problematic terminology. Climatologists predict more drastic fluctuations in temperature and rainfall – not necessarily that every place will be warmer. The name sometimes subverts the debate, since it lets people argue that their winter was worse, so how could there be global warming? Clearly “global climate change” would have been a better name. But not all problems stem solely from poor word choices. Some stem from the intrinsically complex nature of much of modern science. Science sometimes transcends this limitation: remarkably, chemists were able to detail the precise chemical processes involved in the destruction of the ozone layer, making the evidence that chlorofluorocarbon gases (Freon, for example) were destroying the ozone layer indisputable.

H. A better understanding of the mathematical significance of results and less insistence on a simple story would help to clarify many scientific discussions. For several months, Harvard was tortured, Harvard was tortured by empty debates over the relative intrinsic scientific abilities of men and women. One of the more amusing aspects of the discussion was that those who believed in the differences and those who didn’t use the same evidence about gender-specific special ability? How could that be? The answer is that the data shows no substantial effects. Social factors might account for these tiny differences, which in any case have an unclear connection to scientific ability. Not much of a headline when phrased that way, is it? Each type of science has its own source of complexity and potential for miscommunication. Yet there are steps we can take to improve public understanding in all cases. The first would be to inculcate greater understanding and acceptance of indirect scientific evidence. The information from an unmanned space mission is no less legitimate than the information from one in which people are on board.

I. This doesn’t mean questioning an interpretation, but it also doesn’t mean equating indirect evidence with blind belief, as people sometimes suggest. Second, we might need different standards for evaluating science with urgent policy implications than research with purely theoretical value. When scientists say they are not certain about their predictions, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve found nothing substantial. It would be better if scientists were more open about the mathematical significance of their results and if the public didn’t treat maths as quite so scary; statistics and errors, which tell us the uncertainty in a measurement, give us the tools to evaluate new developments fairly.

J. But most importantly, people have to recognize that science can be complex. If we accept only simple stories, the description will necessarily be distorted. When advances are subtle or complicated, scientists should be willing to go the extra distance to give proper explanations and the public should be more patient about the truth. Even so, some difficulties are unavoidable. Most developments reflect work in progress, so the story is complex because no one yet knows the big picture.

Questions 10-14

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage.
Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 10-14 on your answer sheet.

Science Communication is fraught with challenges that can easily distort discussions, leading to unnecessary confusion and misunderstandings. Firstly, Ambiguous 10. ____________ are the source of some misunderstandings. Common people without proper training do not understand clearly or deeply a specific scientific meaning via the 11. ____________ scientists often employed. Besides, the measurements are 12. ____________ makes can not be confined to describe in a(n) constant 13. ____________ yet the phenomenon can be. What’s more, even the word “theory” can be a problem. Theories aren’t necessarily shown to be correct or complete immediately since scientists often evolved better versions of specific theories, a good example can be the theory of 14. ______________. Thus, most importantly people have to recognize that science can be complex.

Answer for practice exercises

You will discover the answers for practice exercises 1,2 and 3 here.

Evolution of Musems 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. Collection/objects

Explanation: The very first museums of the world were private collections of objects by wealthy people and institutions.

2. Public

Explanation: The first museums to be opened for the general public were the British Museum in London in 1759 and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in 1765.

3. Age

Explanation: The first public museum in its true sense was the Louvre in Paris which was opened in 1793 to people of any status and age, emerging as an agent of nationalistic fervor.

4. Focus

Explanation: In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, societies began to regard museums as centers of production of new knowledge. Historical museums shifted focus to display of scientific discoveries and artistic developments

5. Entertainment

Explanation: Over the twentieth century, as cities increased in size, wealth, and population, more museums developed. These were shaped by the public response to education and entertainment. Greater funding was directed towards the development of modern museums.

6. E - Interesting

Explanation: Attitudes toward museums have become more favorable as people no longer view them as boring, cold places.

7. C - Information

Explanation: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, use technology that allows visitors to see the objects, hear or read about the collection on their smartphones by scanning the artwork.

8. B - Communication

Explanation: the National Museum of African Art has the Artists in Dialogue 2 app, which allows for visual calls and responses that cut across physical and political borders. The app facilitates a guided tour of the museum with the curator virtually, ... the user can even communicate with active groups of the museum on social media.

9. F - Complementing

Explanation: …technology is enhancing and not replacing the brick and mortar museums ...

The Origin Of The Earth And The Universe - Different Theories 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. (the) Earth

Explanation: In 1929, Edwin Hubble, an American astronomer, made an interesting observation that distant galaxies and stars are moving away from the Earth in all directions.

2. distances

Explanation: ... speeds with which galaxies are racing away from each other increase with the increasing distances between them ...

3. expanding

Explanation: This led to Hubble’s hypothesis that the universe is not static but is expanding.

Paragraph 3 - Certain deductions can be made from Hubble’s hypothesis of an expanding universe.

4. condensed

Explanation: Paragraph 3 - ... the universe, in a previous era, was more condensed. This suggests that all the matter and energy in the universe were earlier condensed in a minute extremely hot mass.

5. (remaining) dust

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - Due to the changes in pressure inside galaxies, ... dust and gas formed distinct clouds. Further, some of these clouds collapsed due to the gravitational attraction as there was enough mass, and the correct forces were at play. When the cloud material mass was adequately compressed, nuclear reactions resulted and led to the birth of a star.

Paragraph 5 - After the formation of the sun, the remaining dust and gas ... combined to form very small planets called planetesimals. ... These planetesimals then coalesced into nine planets with many satellites.

6. catastrophism

Explanation: Paragraph 6 - The proponents of the creationist theory have various viewpoints ... These people also believe that the existing form of Earth is due to ‘catastrophism’...

7. intelligent design

Explanation: Paragraph 7 - However, they argue that the presence of living organisms, especially humans, is due to the intervention of supernatural power as creation shows ‘intelligent design.’

An Era of Abundance Reading Answers

1. Foraging

2. Hunting

Explanation: Paragraph 2- For most of our biological heritage, there was a high likelihood
that the next foraging or hunting season (and for a brief relatively recent period, the next planting season) might be catastrophically lean. So, it made sense for our bodies to hold on
to every possible calorie.

3. Labourers

Explanation: Paragraph 3- Evolution favored a short lifespan -life expectancy years only two centuries ago- so these restricted reserves could be devoted to the young, those caring for them, and laborers strong enough to perform intense physical work.

4. Farms

5. Factories

6. A century ago

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - A century ago, 30 percent of the U.S. worked on farms, with another 30 percent deployed in factories. Both of these figures are now under 3 percent. The significant majority of today's job categories, ranging from airline flight attendants to web designers, simply didn't exist a century ago.

7. Parts/organs

8. Systems

Explanation: Paragraph 5 - Our species has already augmented the “natural” order of our life cycle through our technology: drugs, supplements, replacement parts for virtually all bodily systems, … systems to replace more complex organs … As we’re learning the principles of operation of the human body and the brain, we will soon be in a position to design vastly superior systems that will be more enjoyable, last longer, and perform better, without susceptibility to breakdown, disease, and aging.

Philippine MatsReading Answers

1. Domestic

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - Because of the enormous domestic need for mats, the Philippines produces a lot of them.

2. Buri petates

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - Buri petates are more extensively produced for this function than those derived from any other material.

3. Durable

4. Visayas

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - Pandan mats are regarded to be more durable and cooler than buri mats, but their use is limited, owing to their higher cost. Tikug mats are very important in the Visayas.

5. Cagayan

Explanation: Paragraph 2 - Mats of dried banana petioles are used in the Cagayan valley

6. upag

Explanation: Paragraph 2 - The outer skin of the petiole is stripped off for fiber extraction, and the remaining section, known as "upag," is dried and woven into coarse mats by children.

7. Abaca

Explanation: Paragraph 3 - Abaca is usually always wrapped in coarse buri mats for export.

8. commerce

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - Buri sacks are used to transport nearly all of the domestic rice production into commerce, as well as almost all of the export sugar.

Glow-Worms Reading Answers

1. Answer: D

Explanation: Located in the second last line of paragraph D, “The effect of global warming on rainfall and other weather patterns may also be playing a part in the disappearance of glow-worms”.

2. Answer: B

Explanation: Located in the second line of paragraph B, “Fireflies often featured in Japanese and Arabian folk medicine”.

3. Answer: A

Explanation: Located in the first line of paragraph A, “The fireflies are a huge group containing over 2000 species”.

4. Answer: B

Explanation: Located in the twelfth line of paragraph B, “The highest concentrations of firefly species today are to be found in the tropics of South America”.

5. Answer: E

Explanation: Located in the second line of paragraph E, “ New Zealand have attracted millions of people from all over the world.”.

6. Answer: C

Explanation: Located in the first line of paragraph C, “the glow-worm's life is divided into four distinct stages”.

Crisis Freshwater Reading Answers

11. Answer: Physical

Explanation: Much of the Americas and northern Eurasia enjoy abundant water supplies. But several regions are beset by greater or lesser degrees of “physical” scarcity-whereby demand exceeds local availability. The given answer is located in the first 4 lines of paragraph F .

12. Answer: Capture of shortage

Explanation: But much of it cannot be captured (top), and the rest is disturbed unevenly (bottom). Green water (61.1% of total precipitation): absorbed by soil and plants, then released back into the air: unavailable for withdrawal. The given answer is located in the 5-8 lines of paragraph H.

13. Answer: Bluewater

Explanation: Bluewater (38.8% of total precipitation): collected in rivers, lakes, wetlands, and groundwater: available for withdrawal before it evaporates or reaches the ocean. These figures may not add up to 100% because of rounding. The given answer is located in the last 4 lines of paragraph H.

Directions for purchasing Bees Reading Answers

1. march

2. apiary

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - The best time to establish an Apiary is from the middle of February to the middle of March.

3. small

Explanation: Paragraph 2 - The Bees appear to be aware of the perishable nature of this substance, for they never fill a cell entirely with it, but leave room for a small quantity of honey in each cell containing pollen.

4. swarm

5. twelve

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - Stocks should be selected by a competent judge, as the weight alone cannot be relied on, a swarm of the preceding year should be selected, and one that contains not less than twelve pounds of honey.

6. apiarian

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - I would therefore recommend the young Apiarian to take the opinion of some experienced person before he makes his purchase.

7. young

Explanation: Paragraph 3 - It is very important to observe, that when a swarm of Bees is purchased it must be removed to the place in which it is to remain, upon the evening of the day it swarmed.

8. Prosperity

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - The prosperity of the hive will much (perhaps entirely) depend upon its being finally placed upon the evening of the day it swarmed.

True and false Humour Reading Answers

1. compositions

2. sense

3. caprice

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - There is a kind of nature that is to be observed in this sort of compositions, as well as in all other; and a certain regularity of thought which must discover the writer to be a man of sense, at the same time that he appears altogether given up to caprice.

4. humour

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - Among all kinds of writing, there is none in which authors are more apt to miscarry than in works of humor, as there is none in which they are more ambitious to excel.

5. Founder

6. collateral line

Explanation: Paragraph 3 - The truth was the founder of the family and the father of Good Sense. Good Sense was the father of Wit, who married a lady of a collateral line called Mirth, by whom he had issue humour.

7. True

8. False

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - For as True Humour generally looks serious while everybody laughs about him, False Humour is always laughing whilst everybody about him looks serious.

Feminist Missionary Reading Answers

6. Answer: Cultural imperialism

Explanation: The problem is that feminism has acted as a tool of cultural imperialism. The given answer is located in the first line of paragraph 2.

7. Answer: Universal

Explanation: As products of a more homogenized culture, most Western feminists assume a woman's aspirations the world over must be quite similar. The given answer is located in the 1-2 lines of paragraph 6.

8. Answer: protection

Explanation: Most feminists view the state as a vital agency for the protection of their individual rights. The given answer is located in the 1-2 lines of paragraph 7.

9. Answer: excessive

Explanation: rather facilitate a whole spate of vicious and harmful legislation which has put even more arbitrary powers in the hands of the police and government-powers that are routinely abused. The given answer is located in the last 3 lines of paragraph 10.

10. Answer: funding agency

Explanation: Most feminist organizations in India and in other developing countries are dependent on Western funding agencies. The given answer is located in the 2-3 lines of paragraph

12. Answer: Rather than

Explanation: Accountable primarily to them rather than to the society they claim to serve. The given answer is located in the 3-4 lines of paragraph 12.

13. Answer: Society

Explanation: Accountable primarily to them rather than to the society they claim to serve. The given answer is located in the 3-4 lines of paragraph 12.

Communication in Science Reading Answers

10. Word Choices

11. Colloquial terminology

12. Observer

13. Invariant description

14. (Theory of) general relativity

Also, check IELTS academic reading diagram labeling

Conclusion

Our tips, strategies, and exercises explained in this blog will help to enhance your understanding, skills building and confidence in attempting the IELTS academic reading summary completion question. We hope that this blog will be more helpful for you to attain a good band score in mock tests in the IELTS academic reading task and you find it useful to practice.