Let's Go Bats - IELTS Reading Sample With Explanation
There are several paragraphs that make up the IELTS Reading questions. They are taken from various magazines, journals, and books. IELTS examines various areas of understanding. The various assessments detailed in the IELTS reading section are for testing the candidate's listening, speaking, and conversational skills which play a vital role to test the language understanding of the candidate. The reading sample questions:
- True/False/Not Given
- Short answer questions
Topic: Let's Go Bats
- Bats have a problem: how to find their way around in the dark. They hunt at flight, and cannot use light to help them find prey and avoid obstacles. You might say that this is a problem of their own making one that they could avoid simply by changing their habits and hunting by day. But the daytime economy is already heavily exploited by other creatures such as birds. Given that there is a living to be made at night, and given that alternative daytime trades are thoroughly occupied, natural selection has favored bats that make a go of the night-hunting trade. It is probable that the nocturnal trades go way back in the ancestry of all mammals. In the time when the dinosaurs. dominated the daytime economy, our mammalian ancestors probably only managed to survive at all because they found ways of scraping a living at night. Only after the my stenos mass extinction of the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago were our ancestors able to emerge into the daylight in any substantial numbers.
- Bats have an engineering problem: how to find their way and find their prey in the absence of light Bats are not the only creatures to face this difficulty today. Obviously, the night-flying insects that they prey on must find their way about somehow. Deep-sea fish and whales have little or no light by day or by night. Fish and dolphins that live in extremely muddy water cannot see because, although there is light, it is obstructed and scattered by the dirt in the water Plenty” of other modern animals make their living in conditions where seeing is difficult or impossible.
- Given the questions of how to manoeuvre in the dark, what solutions might an engineer consider? The first one that might occur to him is to manufacture light, to use a lantern or a searchlight Fireflies and some fish (usually with the help of bacteria) have the power to – manufacture their own light but the process seems to consume a large amount of energy. Fireflies use their light for attracting mates. This doesn’t require a prohibitive amount of energy: a male’s tiny pinprick of light can be seen by a female from some distance on a dark night since her eyes are exposed directly to the light source itself. However, using light to find one’s own way around requires vastly more energy, since the eyes have to detect the tiny fraction of the light that bounces off each part of the scene. The light source must, therefore, be immensely brighter if it is to be used as a headlight to illuminate the path, than if it is to be used as a signal to others. In any event, whether or not the reason is the energy expense, it seems to be the case that with the possible exception of some weird deep-sea fish, no animal apart from man uses manufactured light to find its way about
- What else might the engineer think off Well, blind humans sometimes seem to have an uncanny sense of obstacles in their path, ft has been given the name’ facial vision’, because blind people have reported that Ft feels a bit like the sense of touch, on the face. One report tells of a totally blind boy who could and his tricycle at good speed round the block near his home, using facial vision. Experiments showed that, in fact, facial vision is nothing to do with touch or the front of the face, although the sensation may be referred to the front of the face, like the referred pain in a phantom limb The sensation of facial vision, it turns out really goes in through the ears. Blind people, without even being aware of the fact are actually using echoes of their own footsteps and of other sounds, to sense the presence of obstacles. Before this was discovered, engineers had already built instruments to exploit the principle, for example, to measure the depth of the sea under a ship. After this technique had been invented, it was only a matter of time before weapons designers adapted ft for the detection of submarines. Both sides in the Second World War relied heavily on these devices, under such code names as Asdic (British) and Sonar (American), as wall as Radar (American) or RDF (British), which uses radio echoes rather than sound echoes.
- The Sonar and Radar pioneers Didn’t know it then, but all the world now knows that bats, or rather natural selection working on bats, had perfected the system tens of millions of years earlier, and their radar'” achieves feats of detection and navigation that would strike an engineer dumb with admiration It is technically incorrect to talk about bat’radar1, since they do not use radio waves. It is sonar. But the underlying mathematical the ones of radar and sonar are very similar, and much of our scientific understanding of the details of what bats are doing has’ come from applying radar theory to them. The American zoologist Donald Griffin, who was largely responsible for the discovery of sonar in bats, coined the term ‘echolocation’ to cover both sonar and radar, whether used’ by animals or by human instruments.
Questions 1-6
Examine whether the following statements are-
True, if the statement agrees with the information
False, if the statement contradicts the statement
Not given, if the statement is not mentioned
Write down the answers in boxes 1-6
Q1. The sense of touch on the face that is experienced by blind people due to which they can sense the obstacles is known as 'bodily vision'.
Answer: False
Supporting sentence: The sense of obstacles experienced by blind people through a sense of touch on the face has been given the name of 'facial vision'.
Keywords: Blind, sense of touch, face, obstacles
Keyword location: Section D, 2nd 3rd line
Explanation: In Section D, it is said " Well, blind humans sometimes seem to have an uncanny sense of obstacles in their path. It has been given the name 'facial vision’, because blind people have reported that it feels a bit like the sense of touch, on the face."
Also, check:
Q2. Other than bats, fish and dolphins do not rely on vision to navigate.
Answer: True
Supporting sentence: Fishes and whales usually have no light and live in water full of dirt and mud. Therefore, they cannot see as it is obstructed by the dirt. Thus, they live in conditions where seeing is almost impossible.
Keywords: fish, dolphins
Keyword location: Section B, 4th line
Explanation: In section B, 4th line says, "Deep-sea fish and whales have little or no light by day or by night. Fish and dolphins that live in extremely muddy water cannot see because, although there is light, it is obstructed and scattered by the dirt in the water".
Q3. Fireflies use their own light for catching prey.
Answer: False
Supporting sentence: Fireflies can manufacture their own light, which is used for attracting mates. As, the female can easily see the light from a distance on a dark night.
Keywords: Fireflies, light
Keyword location: Section C, 4th line
Explanation: The 4th line of Section C says, "Fireflies use their light for attracting mates.This doesn't require a prohibitive amount of energy: a male’s tiny pinprick of light can be seen by a female from some distance on a dark night, since her eyes are exposed directly to the light source itself."
Q4. Bats are the only mammals which are capable of true and sustained flight.
Answer: Not given
Explanation: There is no such information provided in the passages.
Q5. In cold winter months, some bats hibernate in caves.
Answer: Not given
Explanation: There is no such information provided in the passages.
Q6. Bats hunt in the dark, given the daytime trades are thoroughly occupied.
Answer: True
Supporting sentence: Since, during the daytime there are several other birds and animals out to make their living. Therefore, as per the natural selection, bats go out at night to hunt and make their living.
Keywords: Bats, hunt, dark, daytime trades, occupied
Keyword location: Section A, 5th line
Explanation: In section A, 5th line says, "Given that there is a living to be made at night, and given that alternative daytime trades are thoroughly occupied, natural selection has favoured bats that make a go of the night-hunting trade."
Questions 7-13
Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.
Q7. After the extinction of _______, our ancestors were able to come out in the daylight.
Answer: Dinosaurs
Supporting sentence: Only after the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, our ancestors were able to emerge in the daylight, as they dominated the daytime economy.
Keywords: Extinction, ancestors, daylight
Keyword location: Section A, last line
Explanation: The last line of Section A says, " Only after the mysterious mass extinction of the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago were our ancestors able to emerge into the daylight in any substantial numbers."
Q8. ________ can manufacture their own light with the help of bacteria.
Answer: Fireflies
Supporting sentence: Fireflies as well as some of the fishes can manufacture their own light with the help of some bacteria, but this process is energy consuming.
Keywords: manufacture, light, bacteria
Keyword location: Section C, 3rd line
Explanation: In Section C, 3rd line says, "Fireflies and some fish (usually with the help of bacteria) have the power to manufacture their own light, but the process seems to consume a large amount of energy. Fireflies use their light for attracting mates."
Q9.Radar and sonar are based on similar
Answer: Mathematical theories
Supporting sentence: Although bats do not use radio waves, but sonar. But the underlying mathematical theories of radar and sonar are almost the same.
Keywords: Radar, sonar
Keyword location: Section E, 4th line
Explanation: In Section E, 4th line says, "But the underlying mathematical theories of radar and sonar are very similar; and much of our scientific understanding of the details of what bats are doing has come from applying radar theory to them.".
Q10. As per the experiments, facial vision is not related to touch or front of the face, but is similar to the pain in _______ limb.
Answer: Phantom
Supporting sentence: The sensation is not related to the front of the face, but is similar to pain in the phantom limb.
Keywords: facial vision, front of face, pain, limb
Keyword location: Section D, 5th line
Explanation: In Section D, 5th line says, " Experiments showed that, in fact, facial vision is nothing to do with touch or the front of the face, although the sensation may be referred to the front of the face, like the referred pain in a phantom limb"
Q11. Used by blind people for sensing the presence of obstacles.
Answer: Echoes
Supporting sentence: Out of their awareness, blind people make use of echoes of footsteps in order to sense the obstacles.
Keywords: Blind people, sensing, obstacles
Keyword location: Section D 2nd paragraph, 1st line
Explanation: In Section D, second paragraph's 1st line says, " Blind people, without even being aware of the fact, are actually using echoes of their own footsteps and of other sounds, to sense the presence of obstacles."
Q12. The word ‘echolocation’ was first used by zoologist
Answer: Donald Griffin
Supporting sentence: The term Echolocation was coined by zoologist Donald Griffin, who discovered the sonar in bats.
Keywords: Echolocation, zoologist
Keyword location: Section E, last line
Explanation: The last line of Section E says, " The American zoologist Donald Griffin, who was largely responsible for the discovery of sonar in bats, coined the term 'écholocation' to cover both sonar and radar, whether used by animals or by human instruments."
Q13. Before the discovery of radars, ________ resulted in a radar-like system in bats.
Answer: Natural selection
Supporting sentence: The radar pioneers were not of the fact, but now the whole world knows that long before, natural selection working on bats was used for detection and navigation.
Keywords: radars, radar-like system, bats
Keyword location: Section E, 1st line
Explanation: In Section E, 1st line says, " The Sonar and Radar pioneers didn't know it then, but all the world now knows that bats, or rather natural selection working on bats, had perfected the system tens of millions of years earlier; and their radar' achieves feats of detection and navigation that would strike an engineer dumb with admiration."
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