Cambridge 17 Reading Test 4 - Answers With Explanation

1. Insects destroy rice crops, which pushes farmers to clear more forest — the forest loss is from land conversion, not insects attacking the forest itself — FALSE.

2. "Not all species are suffering. In fact, some of the island's insectivorous bats are currently thriving" — the opposite of badly affected — FALSE.

3. No mention of Rocha researching bats elsewhere in the world — NOT GIVEN.

4. "Several species of indigenous bats are taking advantage of habitat modification to hunt insects... giving Madagascar's rice farmers a vital pest control service" — TRUE.

5. No comparison of how common the Malagasy mouse-eared bat is versus other species — NOT GIVEN.

6. "Six species of bat are preying on rice pests, including the paddy swarming caterpillar and grass webworm" — TRUE.

7. "DNA barcoding techniques to analyse droppings collected from bats."

8. "The black twig borer (which infests coffee plants)."

9. Bats "feed... also on mosquitoes."

10. "Bats become a crucial source of protein for local people."

11. Bats roosting in buildings "are not welcomed there because they make them unclean."

12. Bats are "very significant in the culture of the people."

13. "We hope that farmers can promote this... relationship by installing bat houses."

14. Section E explains the need to "hold wealth constant" — following people with similar incomes over time.

15. Section A lists the database's sources: court records, guild ledgers, parish registers, tax lists and inventories.

16. Section D tells Juliana Schweickherdt's story — fined for defying the weavers' guild's rules.

17. Section F: "German-speaking central Europe is an excellent laboratory for testing theories of economic growth."

18. Section C lists inventory items: "badger skins to Bibles, sewing machines to scarlet bodices."

19. "We can follow the same people — and their descendants — across 300 years."

20. The two women were "reading books in church instead of listening to the sermon."

21. Juliana "was summoned before the guild court and told to pay a fine."

22. Guild dominance "held back even the simplest industrial innovation."

23–24. "Germany and Scandinavia had excellent literacy rates" (option about German literacy) and "there is plenty of evidence that growth increases education" (economic growth improving literacy, the reverse relationship the writer highlights).

25–26. "Guilds blocked labour migration" and "resisted changes that might reduce their influence" — opposing anything that threatened their control over a trade.

27. Section D references the 13th-century Florence game and Najdorf's 1947 session — earlier examples of blindfold chess.

28. Section E explains the mental mechanics of blindfold chess — memorising, recalling, and updating multiple boards.

29. Section F: Gareyev "was not exceptional on any of these standard tests... supremely gifted at" chess specifically — his skill is limited to chess.

30. Section B: UCLA researchers called him in to understand how he performs such mental feats — why scientists are interested.

31. Section H: winning percentage "has never been an issue" for him; dedication is what matters most — his priorities.

32. Section E: "the ends of games are taxing too, as exhaustion sets in" — why late-game moves are hard to remember.

33. "His challengers will play the games as normal" — only Gareyev is blindfolded, not everyone — FALSE.

34. No mention of BASE jumping competitions or results — NOT GIVEN.

35. The passage doesn't say UCLA was the first to study blindfold chess players — NOT GIVEN.

36. "The ability to play a game of chess with your eyes closed is not a far reach for most accomplished players" — TRUE.

37. "The researchers first had Gareyev perform some standard memory tests."

38. The test "measures how many numbers a person can repeat, both forwards and backwards."

39. Scans found "much greater than average communication between parts of Gareyev's brain."

40. "Gareyev's visual network is more highly connected to other brain parts than usual."