Armed and Dangerous Reading Answers

Mar 19, 2024

Armed and Dangerous Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. Armed and Dangerous Reading Answers have a total of 12 IELTS questions in total. This topic has 10 questions in which you have to fill up the black choosing appropriate words from paragraphs. In the rest of the questions we have say whether statement is true or false.

Candidates should read the IELTS Reading passage thoroughly to recognize synonyms, identify keywords, and answer the questions below. IELTS Reading practice papers, which feature topics such as The Burden of thirst Reading Answers. Candidates can use IELTS reading practice questions and answers to enhance their performance in the reading section.

Check: Get 10 Free IELTS Sample Papers
Check: Register for IELTS Coaching - Join for Free Trial Class Now

Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Armed and Dangerous

The yacht was anchored 200 meters off the Queensland coast when Chris Slough dived into the water. That's when it got him I felt a couple of little stings on my chest. he says, 'but I thought nothing of it and carried on.' But as soon as he got back on the boat he realized he was in big trouble. 'I suddenly came over very nauseous, he says. Within minutes he was in agonizing pain, vomiting and struggling to breathe. 'It felt like my organs were popping out.' i, a vicious creature named after an aboriginal tribe whose folklore tells of a terrible illness
Chris had been stung by an Irukandji, a vicious creature named after an aboriginal tribe whose folklore tells of a terrible illness that struck people who went swimming in the sea. Irukandji, a species of box jellyfish, grow no bigger than a peanut, yet relative to their size are probably the most toxic creatures on earth, putting many people in the hospital each year with 'Irukandji syndrome. All but invisible in the water, their transparent bodies are covered from head to tentacle tip in stinger cells that discharge at the slightest touch, harpooning your skin with venomous barbs. The sting itself is often so mild that you barely notice it until the powerful venom kicks in.
When Chris arrived in hospital, he was given a massive dose of painkillers but no antivenin. Despite the severity and frequency of Irukandji stings, no one has characterized its venom or identined the properties of that of any other species of box jellyfish. In fact, almost everything about box jellyfish is a mystery. Chris was lucky not to have brushed up against chironex fleckeri, a brutish creature the size of a birthday cake with sixty sting-encrusted tentacles. Chironex has killed at least sixty-seven people in Australia since records began in 1883, more than the notorious red-back spider. It can kill a grown man in three minutes flat. Even so, no one knows what's in its venom.
Rattled by bad publicity the tourist industry has been pouring money into box jellyfish research. What the biologists are finding comes as a big surprise. It turns out that box jellyfish are not jellyfish at all. In fact, it looks as though they have been plowing a separate evolutionary furrow since the Pre-Cambrian period, 543 million years ago. What's more, the sea is teeming with unknown species. Even a cursory survey has revealed more than a dozen undescribed ones, some probably even more dangerous than chronic and the Irukandji.
Jamie Seymour, a tropical biologist at James Cook University in Cairns, has developed a technique for tracking chironex's movements using tiny ultrasonic transmitters stuck on with surgical superglue. True jellyfish are dim-witted ocean drifters, but, the first time Seymour managed to tag a chronic with one of these, it immediately headed straight for the bottom, then suddenly swam off covering nearly half a kilometer in fifteen minutes. One simple fact underlies this behavior: box jellies are voracious predators. "You see whole chunks of fish inside them,' says Seymour. Drifting around aimlessly is not a good strategy for a fish eater, so theycharge around in search of prey.
Another remarkable feature of box jellyfish is their visual system. They have twenty-four eyes, arranged in clusters of six, one on each side of their cuboid body. tach cluster contains two types of an eve - four simple light-sensina pits plus two sophisticated camera eyes. The latter are anatomically similar to human eyes, with lenses, retinas, and corneas, and can form detailed color images, but all this sophisticated equipment begs a question. How do box jellies deal with all the information their eyes gather when they don't have a brain? What happens, for example, when two different eyes are sending out contradictory information? No one knows. Why would a creature so apparently primitive need such sophisticated eyes, and so many of them? Some scientists have suggested that this is to do with finding optimum hunting grounds, but Seymour goes one further. He believes that box jellyfish actively seek out prey. He says he has seen them swim around obstacles and home in on individual fish.
Their predatory eating habits also explain why they have such lethal toxins. It's one thing to stalk fish, but how do you catch them when all you have are flimsy, rubbery tentacles? The answer is to take them out with as much lethal force as possible. A chironex sting certainly does that - its venom can dispatch a fish in less than two minutes. It's just an evolutionary accident that the toxin works so well for us too. Seymour suspects there are more deaths than are officially recognized. He points out that chironex fleckeri was thought to be confined to northern Australian waters but has now been found in Panua New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia. the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Irukandji too is probably widespread in the Indo-Pacific. 'People are getting stung and killed all over the tropics without anybody realizing the true cause,' he says
As for Chris, the painkillers worked well enough to let him lie down without it hurting. And he was lucky to have a short bout — it only took twenty hours for him to stop feeling like he was going to die.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 27-33

- The reading passage has eight paragraphs A-H. Choose the most

suitable headings for paragraphs B-H from headings i-x below.

Paragraph B

Answer: IX
Supporting statement:“........Chris had been stung by an Irukandji, a vicious creature named after an aboriginal tribe whose folklore tells of a terrible illness that struck people who went swimming in the sea. ...........”
Keywords: aboriginal ,tribe
Keyword Location: para B, line 1
Explanation: This heading accurately summarizes the content of para B, which describes the Irukandji jellyfish, highlighting its small size and extreme toxicity, causing severe reactions in those stung by it.

Paragraph C

Answer: VII
Supporting statement:“........When Chris arrived in hospital, he was given a massive dose of painkillers but no antivenin. Despite the severity and frequency of Irukandji stings, no one has characterized i...........”
Keywords: painkillers, stings
Keyword Location: para C, line 1
Explanation: para C mentions the limited understanding of box jellyfish venom and the challenges in identifying and characterizing it, indicating a serious gap in scientific knowledge regarding these creatures.

Paragraph D

Answer: VI
Supporting statement:“........Rattled by bad publicity the tourist industry has been pouring money into box jellyfish research. What the biologists are finding comes as a big surprise. It turns out that box jellyfish are not jellyfish at all...........”
Keywords: surprise, jellyfish
Keyword Location: para D,line 2
Explanation: The unexpected discoveries mentioned in para D pertain to the revelation that box jellyfish are not true jellyfish, challenging previous assumptions about their evolutionary history and biological classification.

Paragraph E

Answer: I
Supporting statement:“........Jamie Seymour, a tropical biologist at James Cook University in Cairns, has developed a technique for tracking chironex's movements using tiny ultrasonic transmitters stuck on with surgical superglue............”
Keywords: technique, surgical
Keyword Location: para E, line 1
Explanation: Para E primarily focuses on Jamie Seymour's research technique involving the use of ultrasonic transmitters to track the movements of box jellyfish, providing insights into their behavior and mobility in the ocean.

Paragraph F

Answer: VIII
Supporting statement:“....... Another remarkable feature of box jellyfish is their visual system. They have twenty-four eyes, arranged in clusters of six, one on each side of their cuboid body. tach cluster contains two types of an eve............”
Keywords: cuboid, types
Keyword Location: para F, line 2
Explanation: Para F mentions the remarkable visual system of box jellyfish, highlighting their complex array of eyes and raising questions about how they process visual information without a central brain.

Paragraph G

Answer: II
Supporting statement:“.........Their predatory eating habits also explain why they have such lethal toxins. It's one thing to stalk fish, but how do you catch them when all you have are flimsy, rubbery tentacles?..........”
Keywords: toxins, tentacles
Keyword Location: para G, line 2
Explanation: Para G emphasizes the lethal nature of box jellyfish venom and its role in subduing prey, underscoring its importance in the creature's predatory behavior.

Paragraph H

Answer: IV
Supporting statement:“........ As for Chris, the painkillers worked well enough to let him lie down without it hurting. And he was lucky to have a short bout — it only took twenty hours for him to stop feeling like he was going to die...........”
Keyword Location: para H
Explanation: Para H focuses on Chris's experience of recovering from the box jellyfish sting, detailing his symptoms, treatment, and eventual improvement.

Headings

Measuring mobility
Deadly venom essential
Stung while swimming
Recovering From the stings
How to avoid being stung
Unexpected discoveries
A serious lack of knowledge
All-around vision
Very small but highly dangerous
Spiders that kill

Questions 34-37

Complete sentences 34-37 with the correct ending A-G from the box below.

At first, box jellyfish stings may not hurt much

Answer: D
Supporting statement:“..........The sting itself is often so mild that you barely notice it until the powerful venom kicks in. .........”
Keywords: powerful, venom
Keyword Location: para B, line 7
Explanation: Para B describes how box jellyfish stings may initially cause minimal pain due to the mildness of the sting itself, with the severe pain ensuing later due to the potent venom.

Doctors could not give Chris antivenin at the hospital

Answer: G
Supporting statement:“........When Chris arrived in hospital, he was given a massive dose of painkillers but no antivenin. Despite the severity and frequency of Irukandji stings, no one has ...........”
Keywords: painkillers, stings
Keyword Location: para C, line 1
Explanation: Para C mentions that Chris did not receive antivenin at the hospital due to the lack of characterization of box jellyfish venom, highlighting the uncertainty surrounding its composition and properties.

Box jellyfish have to be able to swim well

Answer: F
Supporting statement:“.........True jellyfish are dim-witted ocean drifters, but, the first time Seymour managed to tag a chronic with one of these, it immediately headed straight for the bottom,..........”
Keywords: straight, bottom
Keyword Location: para E, line 4
Explanation: Para E discusses the swimming behavior of box jellyfish, attributing their mobility to their predatory nature and the need to pursue prey effectively in the ocean.

The number of human victims is probably underestimated

Answer: B
Supporting statement:“.........People are getting stung and killed all over the tropics without anybody realizing the true cause,' he says..........”
Keywords: number, realizing, true case
Keyword Location: para G, line 9
Explanation: Para G mentions that the true extent of box jellyfish-related fatalities may be underestimated due to their presence in various regions beyond initially recognized areas, leading to unacknowledged incidents of stings and deaths.

because they have extremely good eyesight.
because these creatures live in more places than was realized.
because they are not really a kind of jellyfish.
because they cause much less pain than the venom.
because we don't know how many kinds of box jellyfish there ar
because they need to go after the fish they eat.
because the exact nature of the venom is unknown.

Questions 38-40

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

How long, apparently, have box jellyfish differed from true jellyfish?

Answer: 543 MILLION YEARS
Supporting statement:“.........In fact, it looks as though they have been plowing a separate evolutionary furrow since the Pre-Cambrian period, 543 million years ago. ..........”
Keywords: furrow, period
Keyword Location: para D, line 3
Explanation: The passage states in para D that box jellyfish have been evolving separately from true jellyfish since the Pre-Cambrian period, approximately 543 million years ago.

What did Sevmour fasten to the hox iellfish?

Answer: TINY ULTRASONIC TRANSMITTERS
Supporting statement:“........Jamie Seymour, a tropical biologist at James Cook University in Cairns, has developed a technique for tracking chironex's movements using tiny ultrasonic transmitters stuck on with surgical superglue...........”
Keywords: tiny, surgical
Keyword Location: para E, line 1
Explanation: : Para E mentions that Jamie Seymour attached tiny ultrasonic transmitters to box jellyfish in order to track their movements in the ocean.

What do box jellyfish lack for processing visual data?

Answer: A BRAIN
Supporting statement:“.......... How do box jellies deal with all the information their eyes gather when they don't have a brain? What happens, for example, when two different eyes are sending out contradictory information? No one knows. .........”
Keywords: eyes, sending
Keyword Location: para F, line 6
Explanation: Para F discusses the complex visual system of box jellyfish, noting that despite having sophisticated eyes, they lack a central brain to process the visual information gathered by their eyes.

IELTS Reading Related Articles