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British Council Academic Reading Practice Test One Passage One Answer Explained
Electroreception
You can find the passage in here.
I would recommend you open both the passage and my website together after you have tried to solve the passage. This approach can help you become familiarized with the pattern of answers and paraphrasing that Cambridge utilizes to create the IELTS reading tests.
Reading Passage 1 has eight paragraphs, A–H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
1. how electroreception can be used to help fish reproduce
The answer is C.
These can be used for mating signals and territorial displays as well as locating objects in the water.
2. a possible use for electroreception that will benefit humans
The answer is G.
In areas where shark attacks on humans are likely to occur, scientists are exploring ways to create artificial electroreceptors that would disorient the sharks and repel them from swimming beaches.
3. the term for the capacity which enables an animal to pick up but not send out electrical signals
The answer is B.
Electroreception comes in two variants. While all animals (including humans) generate electric signals, because they are emitted by the nervous system, some animals have the ability – known as passive electroreception – to receive and decode electric signals generated by other animals in order to sense their location.
4. why only creatures that live in or near water have electroreceptive abilities
The answer is A.
This ability is only found in aquatic or amphibious species because water is an efficient conductor of electricity.
5. how electroreception might help creatures find their way over long distances
The answer is H.
Some have proposed that salt water and magnetic fields from the Earth’s core may interact to form electrical currents that sharks use for migratory purposes.
6. a description of how some fish can avoid disrupting each other’s electric signals
The answer is D.
When two such electric fish meet in the ocean using the same frequency, each fish will then shift the frequency of its discharge so that they are transmitting on different frequencies.
Label the diagram shown previously.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
To help you with your study, I will say directly where the answer is in the passage. However, in the real-time practice for your test, you will have to skim the passage and find the part where the answer is included yourself.
The answer for this question is in paragraph E.
Shark’s 7 ………………… alert the young ray to its presence
The answer is respiratory movements/signals.
Because marine life of various types is often travelling past, the embryo has evolved only to react to signals that are characteristic of the respiratory movements of potential predators such as sharks.
Embryo moves its 8 ………………… in order to breathe
The answer is tail.
The embryos keep their tails in constant motion so as to pump water and allow them to breathe through the egg’s casing.
Embryo stops sending 9 ………………… when predator close by
The answer is electric currents.
If the embryo’s electroreceptors detect the presence of a predatory fish in the vicinity, however, the embryo stops moving (and in so doing ceases transmitting electric currents) until the fish has moved on.
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE words from the passage for each answer.
The answer for this question is in paragraphs F and G.
Shark Attack
A shark is a very effective hunter. Firstly, it uses its 10 ……………….. to smell its target. When the shark gets close, it uses 11 ……………….. to guide it toward an accurate attack. Within the final few feet the shark rolls its eyes back into its head. Humans are not popular food sources for most sharks due to their 12 ………………… Nevertheless, once a shark has bitten a human, a repeat attack is highly possible as salt from the blood increases the intensity of the 13 …………………
10. The answer is olfactory organs.
They initially lock onto their prey through a keen sense of smell (two thirds of a shark’s brain is devoted entirely to its olfactory organs).
11. The answer is electric signals.
As the shark reaches proximity to its prey, it tunes into electric signals that ensure a precise strike on its target
12. The answer is sinewy muscle.
(our sinewy muscle does not compare well with plumper, softer prey such as seals)
13. The answer is electric field.
Repeat attacks are highly likely once a human is bleeding, however; the force of the electric field is heightened by salt in the blood which creates the perfect setting for a feeding frenzy.