[ Trial Exam – Reading 20 questions – 15 minutes]

THE ADVENTURE OF ORCA

The circle of life of one type of animal on earth is so important in food chain of wildlife and the
balance of other species. For example, based on Michigan University Research, coyotes, which are
predominantly found in the middle of Rocky Mountain, and snowshoe hares, which have been living
from 8,000 and 11,000 feet on Rocky’s mountainside, has a strong correlation on the fluctuation of
population in each side. To be more specific, in Winter, coyotes in rutting season will hunt as possible as
they can to feed, survive, and overcome the dead cold temperature on mountain. As a result, the
population of hares has been shrinking and the population of coyotes has been stable or increasing. In
Spring, with the abundance of food in wild nature like the fish from the rivers or the squirrels from the
trees after long hibernation, instead of hunting the hares, coyotes will have more opportunities to seek-
and-catch other animals to feed. At the end, the number of hares have been sharply skyrocketing
because they need to find a partner to do sexual intercourse and reproduction in warmth weather. That
cycle above is similar with Orcas, also known as killer whales.

Orcas are in the family of oceanic dolphin family and they are in the largest member. Many
scientists had named this type as Orcinus orca. Moreover, orcas can be found in everywhere from
tropical ocean like Pacific Ocean to the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions. However, only one oceanic
area where orcas cannot have the habitat is the Baltic and Black seas due to the coverage of lands
surrounding and instability of salt levels. Many visitors believe that the main food of orca is salmon fish
because they account for 65% in the fish population and the most favorite type for predators, including
human. The type of salmon is chinook and coho. Unfortunately, the most favorite food of orcas is on
bottomfish like rockfish, lingcod, halibut, and greenling. Those fishes have been mostly living near the
bedrock of ocean. For example, they settle near the crack between two tectonic plates such as Antarctic
plate and Pacific plate or Filipino plate and Pacific plate. Therefore, the orca must dive deep under water
more than from 850 to 1000 feet to catch those fishes as the main food source.

Excessive of human overfishing is one issue that affects to food chain of orcas and their habitat.
To be more specific, many fish boats from different countries like Japan, The Philippines, the USA, China,
and so on. During 45 years ago based on California Endanger Species Protection, human population had
been a half of current population and they had just fished some designated ocean. Nowadays, they have
already fished farther and deeper than ever to supply the food consumption of human. Consequently,
orcas’ food source has been detrimental affected and they must dive deeper and deeper to reach a new
food resource. Moreover, the action also negatively destroys and puts other fishes in the verge of
extinction. For instance, lingcod population in northern Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia constitute
from 1.5% to 2.5% what it was in the 1970s. Near future, sooner or later, orcas will be a next target of
obliterating.

Many ecologist, eco-warriors, and environmentalists have been urgent that the plastic wastage
on the ocean will create a dark future for next generations. The process of plastic decomposition should
be over 800 to 1000 years and it can lead to microplastics which can be eaten by other species because
they make the errors in them as the prey. A death orca that had eaten more than 5 tons of plastic
trashes in 2018 near California beach exemplifies the dangerous of plastic wastage. Unfortunately, two
remedies are solely to raise awareness and to follow reduce-reuse-recycle cycle.
Q1-5: Choose True, False, and Not Given

Q1: Coyotes are predators and mostly living from the peak to the plateau of Rocky Mountain

Q2: Orcas stays far and away Coho as in their food source.

Q3: Orcas’ reproduction is as same as hares

Q4: Compared with the population of lingcod in the 1970s, it now makes up exactly 2%

Q5: There is no signal of orca life in Baltic and Black oceans

Q6-Q10: Answering the question:

Q6: Why did writer mention about the cycle between the coyotes and the snowshoe hares?

A. The population of them are intricately linked with the population of orcas in habitat
B. The circle of life in them are closed with the circle of life between orcas and small fishes
C. The wildlife in each animal will be affect to other animals, excluding breaking the bond
D. The coyotes and the snowshoe hares share same family characters with the orcas

Q7: How can we describe the correlation between the coyotes and the snowshoe hares?

A. They share same habilitation in each season

B. Coyotes are predators and hare are preys
C. Coyotes have more alternatives to reach different food sources than hares
D. The population both of them has fluctuated seasonally

Q8: Which of the following factors are NOT the reasons why orcas have appeared in Black Sea?

A. The ocean-blocked area

B. No bridge among territories of ocean
C. Change of temperature
D. Fluctuation in the degree of salt

Q9: Which of the following factors are NOT negative effect on orcas’ habitat?

A. No management in fishing properly

B. The number of visitors have littered the plastic trash near ocean
C. Overfishing the amount of salmon near orca’s habitat
D. Ignorance of many treatments in keeping to save the environment

Q10: Why did author mention about the death of orca in 2018?

A. The alarming sign about warning the toxic from plastic

B. That is a reason why we must stop using plastic immediately
C. All human is the factor of that action above
D. Focusing on reducing plastic wastage before it will late

Q11-20 Filling the blank NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS based on the reading
Q11: Coyotes and snowshoe hares are main characteristics of …………………. in adjusting the population in
each other.

Q12: Coyotes can actively hunt during ………………………... in Winter of their rutting season.

Q13: Some small animals can now wake up ……..…………………………….. in Spring

Q14: After new year, snowshoe hares can make the burrow and find ……………….. to mate and bring up
their offspring.

Q15: Many scientists put the scientific name of Orca as ………………………

Q16: The Orcas’ unfavorable food source is ……………………. such as …………. and ………………

Q17: The reason behind of overfishing of human is to ……………… the ………………………….

Q18: If we cannot act soon to prevent overfishing, ………… will be exterminated near future

Q19: Many oceanic creatures can misidentify ………………. as the prey

Q20: Only some radical methods to stop plastic trashes are to ………………………… or to ……………………….