Homework 5

HOMEWORK 5
READING:
In this unit, you will answer IELTS Reading sentence completion questions and read a text about
mammoths.
Exercise 1: In this text, there is a range of vocabulary about the natural world and the conservation of
animals. Match the words with the definitions.
a population a skeleton an ecosystem to become extinct to decrease

to hunt to preserve
1. This happens when a type of bird, animal or plant doesn’t exist anymore:
2. to become smaller in size or number:
3. to follow and kill an animal for food or for sport:
4. to put something (e.g. food) in ice, salt, sugar or chemicals, so it can stay in good condition:
5. all the people or animals that live in one place or area:
6. all the living things in an area and the way they affect each other and the environment:
7. the frame of bones supporting a human or animal body:
Exercise 2: Complete the sentences about the natural world. Use the words in the box.
decrease ecosystem extinct hunt population preserve skeleton
1. Pollution harms all the plants, fish and animals in the ________________ .
2. The tutor showed the ________________ to the medical students and asked which small bones were
missing.
3. We expect the number of people living in the countryside will ________________ as families move
to the cities.
4. There are so few polar bears left that it is possible they will soon become _________________ .
5. The ________________ of my city has risen to 8 million people.
6. Lions often ________________ other animals at night.
7. Nowadays, most people use fridges to _______________ their food.
Exercise 3: Match the words and phrases with the correct synonyms and paraphrases.
get smaller make a possibility both some lower (than) the contents of
1. build or create
2. inside of or within
3. a pair of
4. not as high as
5. a little or an amount of
6. decrease or fall
7. might or may
Exercise 4: Complete the sentences below. Write ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Bringing the mammoth back to life
Mammoths once lived in large numbers across Asia, Africa, North America and Europe. However, over
time, their numbers fell until the mammoth became extinct. Scientists think this happened for two
reasons. Firstly, the mammoths’ natural habitat decreased in size because of climate change. Secondly,
many mammoths were killed by people who hunted them. The last population of mammoths lived on
Wrangel Island, off north-east Siberia in the Chukchi Sea. These were woolly mammoths that could
survive in very cold conditions, but they also died out around 4,000 years ago.
Prehistoric cave paintings show us that people ate the woolly mammoths they killed, but also used their
bones and tusks. They used these to make simple animal and human figures, an early kind of art, and also
to create some basic tools. We also know a lot about the woolly mammoth because the freezing
conditions in Alaska and Siberia have preserved them. Researchers have studied their skeletons, their
teeth and even the grass and plants that were still inside their stomachs. We know that their fur was an
orange-brown colour, they had a thick layer of fat, and they had long, curved tusks. Their ears were short
compared to an African or Asian elephant’s we might see today, so they would not lose so much heat or
get frostbite.
In recent years, some researchers have suggested that we could bring woolly mammoths back to life.
Interestingly, not all scientists believe that bringing the mammoth back to life would be a good thing.
They think it would be unfair to create a ‘new’ mammoth and then keep it in a small space. They think
the right thing to do would be to give it a certain amount of freedom, perhaps in a wildlife park. But
where would this be? And the mammoth would also be alone, and like elephants, mammoths were
probably social in the way they behaved. This does seem to be a strong reason against bringing the
mammoth back to life. Perhaps the ‘new’ mammoth might also develop an ‘old’ disease – and this might
have an effect on the ecosystem that scientists cannot predict. Although the idea of bringing the
mammoth back seems like an exciting one at first, there are many issues that we need to consider
1. The number of mammoths started to fall when their __________________ got smaller.
2. Humans used mammoths for food, and to make art and ____________________ .
3. Scientists have examined the contents of mammoths’ __________________ .
4. Mammoths had smaller _____________________ than modern elephants.
5. Some scientists think that a ‘new’ mammoth should have some ____________________ .
6. Both elephants and mammoths are ___________________ animals.
7. There is a possibility that a ‘new’ mammoth could get a ____________________ .

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a population a skeleton an ecosystem to become extinct to decrease

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