Academic IELTS Reading Practice - 18 - Secrets Of The Forests
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 13-25 which are based on Reading Passage 18 on the following pages:
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
Secrets Of The Forests
A In 1942 Allan R Holmberg, a doctoral student in
anthropology from Yale University, USA, ventured deep into the jungle of
Bolivian Amazonia and searched out an isolated band of Siriono Indians.
The Siriono, Holmberg later wrote, led a "strikingly backward"
existence. Their villages were little more than clusters of thatched
huts. Life itself was a perpetual and punishing search for food: some
families grew manioc and other starchy crops in small garden plots
cleared from the forest, while other members of the tribe scoured the
country for small game and promising fish holes. When local resources
became depleted, the tribe moved on. As for technology, Holmberg noted,
the Siriono "may be classified among the most handicapped peoples of the
world". Other than bows, arrows and crude digging sticks, the only
tools the Siriono seemed to possess were "two machetes worn to the size
of pocket-knives".
B Although the lives of the Siriono have changed in the
intervening decades, the image of them as Stone Age relics has endured.
Indeed, in many respects the Siriono epitomize the popular conception
of life in Amazonia. To casual observers, as well as to influential
natural scientists and regional planners, the luxuriant forests of
Amazonia seem ageless, unconquerable, a habitat totally hostile to human
civilization. The apparent simplicity of Indian ways of life has been
judged an evolutionary adaptation to forest ecology, living proof that
Amazonia could not - and cannot - sustain a more complex society.
Archaeological traces of far more elaborate cultures have been dismissed
as the ruins of invaders from outside the region, abandoned to decay in
the uncompromising tropical environment.
C The popular conception of Amazonia and its native
residents would be enormously consequential if it were true. But the
human history of Amazonia in the past 11,000 years betrays that view as
myth. Evidence gathered in recent years from anthropology and
archaeology indicates that the region has supported a series of
indigenous cultures for eleven thousand years; an extensive network of
complex societies - some with populations perhaps as large as 100,000 -
thrived there for more than 1,000 years before the arrival of Europeans.
(Indeed, some contemporary tribes, including the Siriono, still live
among the earthworks of earlier cultures.) Far from being evolutionarily
retarded, prehistoric Amazonian people developed technologies and
cultures that were advanced for their time. If the lives of Indians
today seem "primitive", the appearance is not the result of some
environmental adaptation or ecological barrier; rather it is a
comparatively recent adaptation to centuries of economic and political
pressure. Investigators who argue otherwise have unwittingly projected
the present onto the past.
D The evidence for a revised view of Amazonia will take
many people by surprise. Ecologists have assumed that tropical
ecosystems were shaped entirely by natural forces and they have focused
their research on habitats they believe have escaped human influence.
But as the University of Florida ecologist, Peter Feinsinger, has noted,
an approach that leaves people out of the equation is no longer
tenable. The archaeological evidence shows that the natural history of
Amazonia is to a surprising extent tied to the activities of its
prehistoric inhabitants.
E The realization comes none too soon. In June 1992
political and environmental leaders from across the world met in Rio de
Janeiro to discuss how developing countries can advance their economies
without destroying their natural resources. The challenge is especially
difficult in Amazonia. Because the tropical forest has been depicted as
ecologically unfit for large-scale human occupation, some
environmentalists have opposed development of any kind. Ironically, one
major casualty of that extreme position has been the environment itself.
While policy makers struggle to define and implement appropriate
legislation, development of the most destructive kind has continued
apace over vast areas.
F The other major casualty of the "naturalism" of
environmental scientists has been the indigenous Amazonians, whose
habits of hunting, fishing, and slash-and-burn cultivation often have
been represented as harmful to the habitat. In the clash between
environmentalists and developers, the Indians, whose presence is in fact
crucial to the survival of the forest, have suffered the most. The new
understanding of the pre-history of Amazonia, however, points toward a
middle ground. Archaeology makes clear that with judicious management
selected parts of the region could support more people than anyone
thought before. The long-buried past, it seems, offers hope for the
future.
Questions 13-15
Reading Passage 27 has six sections A-F.
Choose the most suitable headings for sections A, B and D from the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers i-vii in boxes 13-15 on your answer sheet.
Reading Passage 27 has six sections A-F.
Choose the most suitable headings for sections A, B and D from the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers i-vii in boxes 13-15 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i Amazonia as unable to sustain complex societies
ii The role of recent technology in ecological research in Amazonia
iii The hostility of the indigenous population to North American influences
iv Recent evidence
v Early research among the Indian Amazons
vi The influence of prehistoric inhabitants on Amazonian natural history
vii The great difficulty of changing local attitudes and practices
|
13 Section A
14 Section B
Example Answer
Paragraph C iv
15 Section D
14 Section B
Example Answer
Paragraph C iv
15 Section D
Questions 16-21
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 27? In boxes 16—21 on your answer sheet write:
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 27? In boxes 16—21 on your answer sheet write:
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
Example
Answer
The prehistoric inhabitants of Amazonia were relatively NO
backward in technological terms.
The prehistoric inhabitants of Amazonia were relatively NO
backward in technological terms.
16 The reason for the simplicity of the Indian way of
life is that Amazonia has always been unable to support a more complex
society.
17 There is a crucial popular misconception about the human history of Amazonia.
18 There are lessons to be learned from similar ecosystems in other parts of the world.
19 Most ecologists were aware that the areas of Amazonia they were working in had been shaped by human settlement.
20 The indigenous Amazonian Indians are necessary to the well-being of the forest.
21 It would be possible for certain parts of Amazonia to support a higher population.
17 There is a crucial popular misconception about the human history of Amazonia.
18 There are lessons to be learned from similar ecosystems in other parts of the world.
19 Most ecologists were aware that the areas of Amazonia they were working in had been shaped by human settlement.
20 The indigenous Amazonian Indians are necessary to the well-being of the forest.
21 It would be possible for certain parts of Amazonia to support a higher population.
Questions 22-25
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 22-25 on your answer sheet.
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 22-25 on your answer sheet.
22 In 1942 the US anthropology student concluded that the Siriono
A were unusually aggressive and cruel.
B had had their way of life destroyed by invaders.
C were an extremely primitive society.
D had only recently made permanent settlements.
A were unusually aggressive and cruel.
B had had their way of life destroyed by invaders.
C were an extremely primitive society.
D had only recently made permanent settlements.
23 The author believes recent discoveries of the remains of complex societies in Amazonia
A are evidence of early indigenous communities.
B are the remains of settlements by invaders.
C are the ruins of communities established since the European invasions.
D show the region has only relatively recently been covered by forest.
A are evidence of early indigenous communities.
B are the remains of settlements by invaders.
C are the ruins of communities established since the European invasions.
D show the region has only relatively recently been covered by forest.
24 The assumption that the tropical ecosystem of Amazonia has been created solely by natural forces
A has often been questioned by ecologists in the past.
B has been shown to be incorrect by recent research.
C was made by Peter Feinsinger and other ecologists.
D has led to some fruitful discoveries.
A has often been questioned by ecologists in the past.
B has been shown to be incorrect by recent research.
C was made by Peter Feinsinger and other ecologists.
D has led to some fruitful discoveries.
25 The application of our new insights into the Amazonian past would
A warn us against allowing any development at all.
B cause further suffering to the Indian communities.
C change present policies on development in the region.
D reduce the amount of hunting, fishing, and ‘slash-and-burn’.
A warn us against allowing any development at all.
B cause further suffering to the Indian communities.
C change present policies on development in the region.
D reduce the amount of hunting, fishing, and ‘slash-and-burn’.
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