PRACTICE FOR MATCHING QUESTIONS

A. MATCHING HEADINGS

Exercise 1: Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Is There Anybody Out There IELTS Reading Sample

A. The primary reason for the search is basic curiosity - the same curiosity about the
natural world that drives all pure science. We want to know whether we are alone in the
Universe. We want to know whether life evolves naturally if given the right conditions,
or whether there is something very special about the Earth to have fostered the variety
of life forms that we see around us on the planet. The simple detection of a radio signal
will be sufficient to answer this most basic of all questions. In this sense, SETI is another
cog in the machinery of pure science which is continually pushing out the horizon of our
knowledge. However, there are other reasons for being interested in whether life exists
elsewhere. For example, we have had civilization on Earth for perhaps only a few
thousand years, and the threats of nuclear war and pollution over the last few decades
have told us that our survival may be tenuous. Will we last another two thousand years
or will we wipe ourselves out? Since the lifetime of a planet like ours is several billion
years, we can expect that if other civilizations do survive in our galaxy, their ages will
range from zero to several billion years. Thus any other civilization that we hear from is
likely to be far older on average than ourselves. The mere existence of such a civilization
will tell of that long-term survival is possible, and gives us some cause for optimism. It is
even possible that the older civilization may pass on the benefits of their experience in
dealing with threats to survival such as nuclear war and global pollution, and other
threats that we haven't yet discovered.
B. In discussing whether we are alone, most SETI scientists adopt two ground rules. First.
UFOs [Unidentified Flying objects] are generally ignored since most scientists don`t
consider the evidence for them to be strong enough to bear serious consideration
(although it is also important to keep an open mind in case any really convincing
evidence emerges in the future). Second, we make a very conservative assumption that
we are looking for a life form that is pretty well like us, since if it differs radically from us
we may well not recognize it as a life form, quite apart from whatever we are able to
communicate with it. In other words, the life form we are looking for may well have two
green heads and seven fingers, but it will nevertheless resemble us in that it should
communicate with its fellows. Be interested in the Universe, Live on a planet orbiting a
star like our Sun, and perhaps most restrictively have chemistry, like us, based on
carbon and water.
C. Even when we make these assumptions. our understanding of other life forms is still
severely limited. We do not even know. for example, how many stars have planets, and
we certainly do not know how likely it is that life will arise naturally, given the right
conditions. However, when we look at the 100 billion stars in our galaxy [the Milky
Way], and 100 billion galaxies. In the observable Universe, It seems inconceivable that at
least one of these planets does not have a life form on it; in fact, the best educated guess
we can make using the little that we do know about the conditions for carbon-based life,
leads us to estimate that perhaps one in 100,000 stars might have a life-bearing planet
orbiting it. That means that our nearest neighbors are perhaps 1000 light years away.
which is almost next door in astronomical terms.
D. An alien civilization could choose many different ways of sending information across the
galaxy, but many of these either require too much energy. or else are severely
attenuated while traversing the vast distances across the galaxy. It bums out that. for a
given amount of transmitted power: radio waves in the frequency range 1000 to 3000
MHz travel the greatest distance. and so all searches to date have concentrated on
looking for radio waves in this frequency range. So far there have been a number of
 searches by various groups around the world, including Australian searches using the
radio telescope at Parkes, New South Wales. Until now there have not been any
detections from the few hundred stars which have been searched. The scale of the
searches has been increased dramatically since 1992, when the US Congress voted NASA
$10 million per year for ten years to conduct a thorough search for extra-terrestrial life.
Much of the money in this project is being spent on developing the special hardware
needed to search many frequencies at once. The project has two parts. One part is a
targeted search using the world's largest radio telescopes. The American-operated
telescope in Arecibo. Puerto Rico and the French telescope in Nancy in France. This part
of the project is searching the nearest 1000 likely stars with a high sensibility for signals
in the frequency range 1000 to 3000 MHz. The other parts of the project is an
undirected search which is monitoring all of the space with a lower using the smaller
antennas of NASA`s Deep Space Network.
E. There is considerable debate over how we should react if we detect a signal from an
alien civilization. Everybody agrees that we should not reply immediately. Quite apart
from the impracticality of sending e reply over such large distances at short notice, it
raises a host of ethical questions that would have to be addressed by the global
community before any reply could be sent. Would the human race face the culture shock
if faced with a superior and much older civilization? Luckily, there is no urgency about
this. The stars being searched are hundreds of light years away. so it takes hundreds of
years for their signal to reach us, and a further few hundred years for our reply to reach
them. It is not important, then, if there`s a delay of a few years, or decades, while the
human race debates the question of whether to reply and perhaps carefully drafts a
reply.

( IELTS Cambridge 9)
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-E from the headings below.

List of Headings
i. Seeking the transmission of radio signals from planets
ii. Appropriate responses to signals from other civilizations
iii. Vast distances to Earth’s closest neighbors
iv. Assumptions underlying the search for extra-terrestrial
intelligence
v. Reasons for the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence
vi. Knowledge of extra-terrestrial life forms
vii. Likelihood of life on other planets

Example                                          Answer
Paragraph A                                    v
Paragraph B ______
Paragraph C ______
Paragraph D ______
Paragraph E ______
18. What is the life expectancy of Earth?

19. What kind of signals from other intelligent civilizations are SETI scientists searching for?

20. How many stars are the world’s most powerful radio telescopes searching?
Questions 21-26

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 49?

In boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet, write:

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this more than once.

21.   Alien civilizations may be able to help the human race to overcome serious problems

23.   SETI scientists are trying to find a life form that resembles humans in many ways.

23.   The Americans and Australians have co-operated on joint research projects.

24.   So far SETI scientists have picked up radio signals from several stars.

25.   The NASA project attracted criticism from some members of Congress.

26.   If a signal from outer space is received, it will be important to respond promptly.
18. Billion years
19. Radio (waves/signals)
20. 1000 (stars)
21. TRUE
22. TRUE
23. NOT GIVEN
24. FALSE
25. NOT GIVEN
26. FALSE
Exercise 2: Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

A 
Orcas, also known as killer whales, are opportunistic feeders, which means they will take a variety of
different prey species. J, K, and L pods (specific groups of orcas found in the region) are almost
exclusively fish eaters. Some studies show that up to 90 percent of their diet is salmon, with Chinook
salmon being far and away their favorite. During the last 50 years, hundreds of wild runs of salmon
have become extinct due to habitat loss and overfishing of wild stocks. Many of the extinct salmon
stocks are the winter runs of chinook and coho. Although the surviving stocks have probably been
sufficient to sustain the resident pods, many of the runs that have been lost were undoubtedly
traditional resources favored by the resident orcas. This may be affecting the whales’ nutrition in the
winter and may require them to change their patterns of movement in order to search for food.

Other studies with tagged whales have shown that they regularly dive up to 800 feet in this area.
Researchers tend to think that during these deep dives the whales may be feeding on bottomfish.
Bottomfish species in this area would include halibut, rockfish, lingcod, and greenling. Scientists
estimate that today’s lingcod population in northern Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia is only 2
percent of what it was in 1950. The average size of rockfish in the recreational catch has also declined
by several inches since the 1970s, which is indicative of overfishing. In some locations, certain
rockfish species have disappeared entirely. So even if bottomfish are not a major food resource for the
whales, the present low number of available fish increases the pressure on orcas and all marine
animals to find food. (For more information on bottomfish see the San Juan County Bottomfish
Recovery Program.)
B 
Toxic substances accumulate in higher concentrations as they move up the food chain. Because orcas
t are the top predator in the ocean and are at the top of several different food chains in the
environment, they tend to be more affected by pollutants than other sea creatures. Examinations of
stranded killer whales have shown some extremely high levels of lead, mercury, and polychlorinated
hydrocarbons. Abandoned marine toxic waste dumps and present levels of industrial and human
refuse pollution of the inland waters probably presents the most serious threat to the continued
existence of this orca population. Unfortunately, the total remedy to this huge problem would be
broad societal changes on many fronts. But because of the fact that orcas are so popular, they may be
the best species to use as a focal point in bringing about the many changes that need to be made in
order to protect the marine environment as a whole from further toxic poisoning.'

C 
The waters around the San Juan Islands are extremely busy due to international commercial shipping,
fishing, whale watching, and pleasure boating. On a busy weekend day in the summer, it is not
uncommon to see numerous boats in the vicinity of the whales as they travel through the area. The
potential impacts from all this vessel traffic with regard to the whales and other marine animals in the
area could be tremendous.

The surfacing and breathing space of marine birds and mammals is a critical aspect of their habitat,
which the animals must consciously deal with on a moment-to-moment basis throughout their
lifetimes. With all the boating activity in the vicinity, there are three ways in which surface impacts
are most likely to affect marine animals: (a) collision, (b) collision avoidance, and (c) exhaust
emissions in breathing pockets.

The first two impacts are very obvious and don’t just apply to vessels with motors. Kayakers even
present a problem here because they’re so quiet. Marine animals, busy hunting and feeding under the
surface of the water, may not be aware that there is a kayak above them and actually hit the bottom of
it as they surface to breathe.

The third impact is one most people don’t even think of. When there are numerous boats in the area,
especially idling boats, there are a lot of exhaust fumes being spewed out on the surface of the water.
When the whale comes up to take a nice big breath of “fresh" air, it instead gets a nice big breath of
exhaust fumes. It’s hard to say how greatly this affects the animals, but think how breathing polluted
air affects us (i.e., smog in large cities like Los Angeles, breathing the foul air while sitting in traffic
jams, etc)._

D 
Similar to surface impacts, a primary source of acoustic pollution for this population of orcas would
also be derived from the cumulative underwater noise of vessel traffic. For cetaceans, the underwater
sound environment is perhaps the most critical component of their sensory and behavioral lives. Orcas
communicate with each other over short and long distances with a variety of clicks, chirps, squeaks,
and whistles, along with using echolocation to locate prey and to navigate. They may also rely on
passive listening as a primary sensory source. The long-term impacts from noise pollution would not
likely show up as noticeable behavioral changes in habitat use, but rather as sensory damage or
gradual reduction in population health. A new study at The Whale Museum called the SeaSound
Remote Sensing Network has begun studying underwater acoustics and its relationship to orca
communication.
( IELTS Cambridge 10)

Reading Passage .Choose the most suitable heading for each section from the list of headings
below.
There are more headings than sections, so you will not use all of them.
1.  Section A ________
2.  Section B ________
3.  Section C ________
4.  Section D ________
 
List of Headings
i.   Top Ocean Predators
ii.  Toxic Exposure
iii. Declining Fish Populations
iv.  Pleasure Boating in the San Juan Islands
v.   Underwater Noise
vi.  Smog in Large Cities
vii. Impact of Boat Traffic
vi.  Impact of Boat Traffic
31.  Killer whales (orcas) in the J, K, and L pods prefer to eat

   A) halibut.

   B) a type of salmon.

   C) a variety of animals.

   D) fish living at the bottom of the sea.

32. Some groups of salmon have become extinct because

   A) they have lost places to live.

   B) whales have eaten them.

   C) they don't get good nutrition.

   D) the winters in the area are too cold.

Questions 33-40

Complete the chart below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 33-40 on your Answer Sheet.
 31. B

32. A

33. on bottomfish

34. less

35. pollution

36. popular

37. numerous boats/vessels

38. quiet

39. exhaust fumes

40. communicating ( wuth orders)