Our Vanishing Night Reading Answers
Our Vanishing Night Reading Answers 13 questions that have to be answered in 20 minutes. E-training Reading Answers comprises three types of questions, namely- no more than three words, and true/false/not given. For no more than two words, candidates must read the passage and understand the statement provided and answer within a word limit of two. For true/false/not given, candidates must read the IELTS passage and understand the statement provided.
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Section 1
Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions
Our Vanishing Night Reading Answers
A
If humans were truly at home under the light of the moon and stars, it would make no difference to us whether we were out and about at night or during the day, the midnight world as visible to us as it is to the vast number of nocturnal species on this planet. Instead, we arc diurnal creatures, meaning our eyes are adapted to living in the suns light. This is a basic evolutionary fact, even though mast of us don’t think of ourselves as diurnal beings any more than as primates or mammals or Earthlings. Yet it’s the only way to explain what we’ve done to the night: we’ve engineered it to meet our needs by filling it with light.
B
This kind of engineering is no different from damming a river. Its benefits come with consequences – called light pollution – whose effects scientists arc only now beginning to study. Light pollution is largely the result of bad lighting design, which allows artificial light to shine outward and upward into the sky, where it is not wanted, instead of focusing it downward, where it is. Wherever human light spills into the natural world, some aspect of life – migration, reproduction, feeding – is affected.
C
For most of human history, the phrase “light pollution” would have made no sense. Imagine walking toward London on a moonlit night around 1800, when it was one of Earth’s most populous cities. Nearly a million people lived there, making do, as they always had, with candles and lanterns. There would be no gaslights in the streets or squares for another seven years.
D
Now most of humanity lives under reflected, refracted light from overlit cities and suburbs, from light-flooded roads and factories. Nearly all of night-time Europe is a bright patch of light, as is most of the United States and much of Japan. In the South Atlantic the glow from a single fishing fleet – squid fishermen luring their prey with metal halide lamps – can be seen from space, burning brighter on occasions than Buenos Aires.
E
In most cities the sky looks as though it has been emptied of stars and taking their place is a constant orange glow. We’ve become so used to this that the glory of an unlit night – dark enough for the planet Venus to throw shadows on Earth – is wholly beyond our experience, beyond memory almost. And yet above the city’s pale ceiling lies the rest of the universe, utterly undiminished by the light we waste.
F
We’ve lit up the night as if it were an unoccupied country, when nothing could be further from the truth. Among mammals alone, the number of nocturnal species is astonishing. Light is a powerful biological force, and in many species it acts as a magnet. The effect is so powerful that scientists speak of songbirds and seabirds being ‘captured’ by searchlights on land or by the light from gas flares on marine oil platforms, circling and circling in the thousands until they drop. Migrating at night, birds are apt to collide with brightly lit buildings; immature birds suffer in much higher numbers than adults.
G
Insects, of course, cluster around streetlights, and feeding on those insects is a crucial means of survival for many bat species. In some Swiss valleys the European lesser horseshoe bat began to vanish after streetlights were installed, perhaps because those valleys were suddenly filled with fight-feeding pipistrelle bats. Other nocturnal mammals, like desert rodents and badgers, are more cautious about searching for food under the permanent full moon of fight pollution because they’ve become easier targets for the predators who are hunting them.
H
Some birds – blackbirds and nightingales, among others – sing at unnatural hours in the presence of artificial light. Scientists have determined that long artificial days — and artificially short nights — induce early breeding in a wide range of birds. And because a longer day allows for longer feeding, it can also affect migration schedules. The problem, of course, is that migration, like most other aspects of bird behavior, is a precisely timed biological behavior. Leaving prematurely may mean reaching a destination too soon for nesting conditions to be right.
I
Nesting sea turtles, which seek out dark beaches, find fewer and fewer of them to bury their eggs on. When the baby sea turtles emerge from the eggs, they gravitate toward the brighter, more reflective sea horizon but find themselves confused by artificial fighting behind the beach. In Florida alone, hatchling losses number in the hundreds of thousands every year. Frogs and toads living on the side of major highways suffer nocturnal fight levels that are as much as a million times brighter than normal, disturbing nearly every aspect of their behavior, including their night-time breeding choruses.
J
It was once thought that fighting pollution only affected astronomers, who need to see the night sky in all its glorious clarity. And, in fact, some of the earliest civic efforts to control pollution were made half a century ago to protect the view from Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 2001 Flagstaff was declared the first International Dark Sky City. By now the effort to control and fight pollution has spread around the globe. More and more dues and even entire countries have committed themselves to reducing unwanted glare.
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Section 2
Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-7:
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
(Guide: Candidates need to study the passage and mark the questions as true or false or not given)
- Few people recognise nowadays that human beings are designed to function best in daylight.
Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: Instead, we arc diurnal creatures, meaning our eyes are adapted to living in the sun's light. This is a basic evolutionary fact, even though most of us don’t think of ourselves as diurnal beings any more than as primates or mammals or Earthlings.
Keyword: eyes, best adapted, sun’s light, don’t think of ourselves, diurnal beings
Keyword Location: Paragraph 1, Lines 3-6
Explanation: The statement is true because it is said that most of us do not realize that human eyes are best adapted to work in daylight. The supporting sentence states that human beings are mostly suited to function in daylight. Though most humans don’t think of themselves as ‘diurnal beings.’
- Most light pollution is caused by the direction of artificial lights rather than their intensity.
Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: Light pollution is largely the result of bad lighting design, which allows artificial light to shine outward and upward into the sky, where it is not wanted, instead of focusing it downward, where it is.
Keyword: light pollution, result of, bad lighting design, outward, downward
Keyword Location: Paragraph 2, lines 3-5
Explanation: This statement is true because it is said that light pollution occurs because these artificial lights are not pointed downwards, but upwards into the sky, therefore the direction is the cause of light pollution.
- By 1800 the city of London had such a large population, it was already causing light pollution.
Supporting Sentence: For most of human history, the phrase “light pollution” would have made no sense. Imagine walking toward London on a moonlit night around 1800, when it was one of Earth’s most populous cities. Nearly a million people lived there, making do, as they always had, with candles and lanterns.
Keyword: light pollution, no sense, million people, with candles and lanterns
Keyword Location: Paragraph 3, lines 1-4
Explanation: The statement is false because it is said that in 1800, even when London was highly populated, there was no light pollution as people just used candles and lanterns. It was one of ‘Earth’s most populous cities’ back then. Almost a million people resided there and used candles and lanterns.
- The fishermen of the South Atlantic are unaware of the light pollution they are causing.
Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: There is no mention of the fishermen of South Atlantic who are unaware of the ‘light pollution’ caused by them. Therefore, the selected answer is Not Given.
- Shadows from the planet Venus are more difficult to see at certain times of year.
Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: There is no mention of shadows of the planet Venus and the inability to see them during certain times of the years has been mentioned in the passage. Therefore, the selected answer is Not Given.
- In some Swiss valleys, the total number of bats declined rapidly after the introduction of streetlights.
Answer: FALSE
Supporting Sentence: In some Swiss valleys, the European lesser horseshoe bat began to vanish after streetlights were installed, perhaps because those valleys were suddenly filled with fight-feeding pipistrelle bats.
Keyword: Swiss valleys, suddenly filled with fight feeding bats
Keyword Location: Paragraph 7, lines 2-4
Explanation: The statement is false because it is said that due to light pollution, there is an increase in the numbers of fight-feeding pipistrelle bats after their competition with the horseshoe bats. The other probable reason stated for the vanish of the European lesser horseshoe bats is the presence of fight-feeding pipistrelle bats.
- The first attempts to limit light pollution were carried out to help those studying the stars.
Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: And, in fact, some of the earliest civic efforts to control fight pollution were made half a century ago to protect the view from Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Keyword: earliest efforts, control pollution, protect view, Lowell Observatory
Keyword Location: Paragraph 9, lines 2-4
Explanation: The statement is true because it is said that the first efforts to reduce light pollution were taken to protect the views from the Lowell Observatory which presumably observes stars.
Questions 8-13:
Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.
| CREATURE | EFFECTS OF LIGHT |
|---|---|
| Songbirds and sea birds They bump into 9) …………… | The worst-affected birds are those which are 8) …………… seabirds which stand out at night. |
| Desert rodents and badgers | They are more at risk from 10) ………………… |
| Migrating birds | Early migration may mean the 11) ………………… are not suitable on arrival. |
| Sea turtles | They suffer from the decreasing number of 12) ……………………. |
| Frogs and toads | If they are near 13) ……………………. their routines will be upset. |
(Guide: Candidates need to study the passage and fill the table with not more than three words from the passage)
Question 8:
Answer: immature
Supporting Sentence: Migrating at night, birds are apt to collide with brightly lit buildings; immature birds suffer in much higher numbers than adults
Keyword: immature birds, suffer, higher numbers
Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, lines 6-7
Explanation: It has been said that immature birds that are out at night suffer more than adult birds. It is very obvious for birds to collide with something bright then migrate at night. Therefore, the answer selection is right.
Question 9:
Answer: brightly lit buildings
Supporting Sentence: Migrating at night, birds are apt to collide with brightly lit buildings; immature birds suffer in much higher numbers than adults
Keyword: collide, brightly lit buildings
Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, lines 6-7
Explanation: It has been said that sea birds which are migratory birds collide or bump into brightly lit buildings while migrating at night. Therefore, the selected answer is correct.
Question 10:
Answer: predators
Supporting Sentence: Other nocturnal mammals, like desert rodents and badgers, are more cautious about searching for food under the permanent full moon of fight pollution because they’ve become easier targets for the predators who are hunting them.
Keyword: desert rodents, badgers, easier targets, predators
Keyword Location: Paragraph 7, lines 5-8
Explanation: It is said that desert rodents and badgers are easier targets for predators because they come searching for food under the light of a full moon and due to light pollution, they get hunted more often.
Question 11:
Answer: nesting condition
Supporting Sentence: Leaving prematurely may mean reaching a destination too soon for nesting conditions to be right.
Keyword: too soon, nesting conditions
Keyword Location: Paragraph 8, lines 5-8
Explanation: It is said that when migratory birds leave too early, the nesting conditions upon their arrival might be wrong. Therefore, the selected answer choice is correctly justified by the supporting sentence.
Question 12:
Answer: dark beaches
Supporting Sentence: Nesting Sea turtles, which seek out dark beaches, find fewer and fewer of them to bury their eggs on. When the baby sea turtles emerge from the eggs, they gravitate toward the brighter, more reflective sea horizon but find themselves confused by artificial lighting behind the beach.
Keyword: sea turtles, dark beaches, confused by artificial lighting
Keyword Location: paragraph 9, lines 1-4
Explanation: It is said that nesting sea turtles who set out on dark beaches to bury their eggs get confused due to the artificial lighting on the beach, and therefore suffer a lot.
Question 13:
Answer: (major) highways
Supporting Sentence: Frogs and toads living on the side of major highways suffer nocturnal fight levels that are as much as a million times brighter than normal, disturbing nearly every aspect of their behaviour, including their night-time breeding choruses.
Keyword: frogs and toads, on major highways, suffer, disturbing their behaviour
Keyword Location: Paragraph 9, lines 7-9
Explanation: It is said that frogs and toads living on major highways suffer because the lights are very bright and therefore disturb their behavior a lot.
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