The Cell from Hell Reading Answers

Dec 27, 2022

The Cell from Hell Reading Answers is a topic discussing about a peculiar microorganisms of the sea causing destruction of the marine animals. The given IELTS topic has been originated from the book called “101 Ielts Reading Past Papers with Answers”. The topic named The Cell from Hell Reading Answers comes with 13 sets of questions. The topic has been enclosed with three sorts of questions, like, complete the summary, no more than three words, and classify the following. The candidates should read thoroughly the IELTS reading passage in order to recognize the synonyms and identify the keywords and for answering the questions below. Similar kinds of topics like The Cell from Hell Reading Answers are included in the IELTS reading practice papers, which the candidates can take into their consideration for performing a good score in this section.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

The Cell from Hell Reading Answers

Recently, an international team of biologists met to discuss what they believe is a global crisis in the sudden appearance of strange marine microorganisms capable of poisoning not just fish but people too.
In the mid-1980s, fishermen in North Carolina, on the eastern coast of the United States, began complaining about mysterious fish kills. They were convinced that pollution was responsible but nobody would listen. That changed in 1988 after an accident at. a research center. Tank after tank of fish suddenly died. Researchers spotted an unknown microorganism in the water. It was later named pfiesteria.
Pfiesteria belongs to a prehistoric group of algae that are part plant, part animal. They are called dinoflagellates after the liny whips or flagella that propel them through the wafer. Magnified a thousand limes, they are some of the strangest and most beautiful creatures in the sea. They are at the bottom of the food chain but, to deter fish from swallowing them, some have evolved powerful toxins.
As the researchers were to discover, pfiesteria doesn’t just discourage fish. It actively hunts them, then eats them. Fish are one of its preferred foods but one of the intriguing things about pfiesteria is that it will eat everything from bacteria to dead plant and animal remains all the way up to mammalian tissues. So its food spans the entire food web of an estuary. Gradually the researchers realized that nothing in the water was safe from pfiesteria. It could harm humans too. A mis-directed air-conditioning duct from a room containing the toxins nearly killed one of the researchers. He suffered a host of symptoms ranging from profuse sweating, tingling hands and feet, to liver and kidney problems, as well as memory
As the research intensified, some startling discoveries were made. In tanks, pfiesteria was quite content to behave like a plant and photosynthesis. However, when fish were added, a dramatic transformation occurred, pfiesteria switched to attack mode. In a matter of minutes it changed shape and secreted a toxin. The fish quickly became disoriented and within five minutes all were dead. Pfiesteria changed shape again and devoured them. When it had had its fill, it vanished. No one had ever seen an organism do this.
Initially scientists believed this was part of a natural cycle, but on closer examination, it seemed pollution was to blame. When the water containing the biggest fish kills was analyzed, scientists found high levels of pollution. But this is just one of the factors that can boost the transformation in pfiesteria. Others include large numbers of fish traveling together which feed in poorly flushed places with a lot of algae to eat and other rich food sources. That is the perfect habitat for pfiesteria.
But pfiesteria is not the only concern. In the oceans all around the world similar kinds of algae are now materializing and turning toxic. In the last decade these algal blooms¹ have poisoned sea-lions in California, caused catastrophic fish kills in the Pacific, the Mediterranean and the North Sea, and devastated the shellfish industry in New Zealand. Researchers from forty-seven nations met recently to share the latest information about harmful algal blooms. They heard about new kinds of toxins and discussed possible links between algae and whale standings. But what dominated the proceedings was news that toxic algae are spreading to new shores in ballast water carried by ships.
That may have already happened in Australian waters. A tuna kill in 1996 cost fish farmers an estimated $45 million. The official explanation was that a storm was to blame. But there were also reports of orange-brown streaks in the water. When a water sample was examined, it was found to be teeming with an alga never before seen in Australia, called chattonella. The same chattonella killed half a billion dollars’ worth of fish in Japan in 1972.
This toxin was also present in the livers of the dead tuna. Despite this powerful evidence, the official explanation remains that a storm was the killer. However, in Japan this was a prime example of an algal bloom induced by the waste products of the aquaculture industry itself, and of course that is not something that the tuna industry wants to hear.
It is clear that chattonella is present in Australian waters. But there is little knowledge of what else may surface or where it may have come from. What is of greater concern is that, in Australia and around the world, there is a reluctance to acknowledge that it is human activity which is triggering the transformation of normally benign organisms into increasingly dangerous forms. If we continue to mismanage the way nutrients and pollutants are released into the environment, we will have to confront new versions of the cells from hell.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Question 14-17
Complete the summary below.
Choose your answers from the box below the summary.
There are more words than you need so you will not use all of them.

jaws	grows	animal
kills	eats	poisons
plant	disappears	microorganism
bacteria	fish	dies

Pfiesteria is a microorganism (Example) with some unusual characteristics. Under normal conditions, it acts like a ______

Answer: Plant
Supporting Sentence: Pfiesteria belongs to a prehistoric group of algae that are part plant, part animal.
Keyword: Part plant, part animal
Keyword location: Para 3, lines 1-2
Explanation: The first two lines of paragraph 3 states that Pfiesteria is one of the oldest microorganism or algae which carries peculiar characteristic features. It shows the performance like a plant under normal conditions.

but it has also developed powerful _____as a defense against being eaten by fish.

Answer: Poison
Supporting Sentence: They are at the bottom of the food chain but, to deter fish from swallowing them, some have evolved powerful toxins.
Keyword: powerful toxins, fish from swallowing
Keyword location: Para 3, lines 3-4
Explanation: The third and fourth lines of paragraph 3 implies that Pfiesteria fostered some dominant poison through which they can prohibit the fishes from inhaling them.

When the fish are disabled and killed by the neurotoxins, the organism_____ them

Answer: Eats
Supporting Sentence: It actively hunts them, then eats them
Keyword: hunts them, eats them
Keyword location: Para 4, Lines 1-2
Explanation: Lines 1-2 of paragraph 4 depicts that when the fishes gets killed by the poison they are eaten by the microorganisms.

and it______afterward.

Answer: Disappears
Supporting Sentence: When it had had its fill, it vanished.
Keyword: vanished
Keyword location: Para 5, lines 4-6
Explanation: The fourth to sixth lines of pargraph 5 explains that the microorganisms after eating up the dead fishes, it rapidly disappears.

Question 18-21
Fill in the blanks with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage.

Conditions which favor the growth of toxic algae include high levels of _____

Answer: Pollution
Supporting Sentence: When the water containing the biggest fish kills was analyzed, scientists found high levels of pollution.
Keyword: high levels, pollution
Keyword location: Para 6, lines 2-4
Explanation: Lines 2-4 of paragraph 6 suggests that huge amount of pollution in the water with many dead fishes can give the boost of development for the toxic algae named pfiesteria.

and _______fish feeding together.

Answer: large Number
Supporting Sentence: Others include large numbers of fish traveling together which feed in poorly flushed places with a lot of algae to eat and other rich food sources. That is the perfect habitat for pfiesteria.
Keyword: large number of fish, perfect habitat
Keyword location: Para 6, lines 4-6
Explanation: The fourth to sixth lines of paragaph 6 clarifies that the metamorphosis of pfiesteria can also happen by their swallowing the dead fishes those were killed after consuming intoxicants.

Research scientists at the international conference learned about_____

Answer: New kind of
Supporting Sentence: They heard about new kinds of toxins and discussed possible links between algae and whale standings.
Keyword: new kind of toxins, links between algae
Keyword location: Para 7, lines 6-8
Explanation: Research scientists in lines 6-8 of paragraph 7 explains that they came to know about a new kind of poisonous algae which is carried by both the algae and the whale.

toxic algae and how they are spreading around the world in water____

Answer: Carried by ships
Supporting Sentence: But what dominated the proceedings was news that toxic algae are spreading to new shores in ballast water carried by ships.
Keyword: ballast water, ships
Keyword location: Para 7, lines 7-8
Explanation: Lines 7-8 of paragraph 7 suggests that the poisonous algae are transmitted into the water coast as they are carried forward by the means of ships.

Questions 22-26
Classify the following as:

caused by pfiesteria
caused by chattonella
caused by an unidentified micro-organism

death of sea-lions off the coast of California (1990s)

Answer: Option C
Supporting Sentence: In the last decade these algal blooms¹ have poisoned sea-lions in California,
Keyword: sea-lines, California
Keyword location: Para 7, lines 2-3
Explanation: Lines 2-3 of paragraph 7 states that in the past few years, a huge sum of sea-lions in California succumbed or passed away for getting intoxicated by an unknown microorganism.

fish kill in Japan (1972)

Answer: Option B
Supporting Sentence: The same chattonella killed half a billion dollars’ worth of fish in Japan in 1972.
Keyword: killed half a billion , dollars of fish, Japan
Keyword location: Para 8, lines 5-6
Explanation: Lines 5-6 of paragraph 8 implies that in the country of Japan, an algae named chattonella stands subjective for killings fishes of half a bilion dollars in number in the year of 1972

shellfish industry losses in New Zealand (1990s)

Answer: Option C
Supporting Sentence: In the last decade these algal blooms¹ have poisoned sea-lions in California, caused catastrophic fish kills in the Pacific, the Mediterranean and the North Sea, and devastated the shellfish industry in New Zealand.
Keyword: shellfish industry,New Zealand, devastated
Keyword location: Para 7, lines 2-4
Explanation: Lines 2-4 of paragraph 7 possesses that priorly, an unidentified microorganism caused destruction to the shellfish industry in the New Zealand in the year of 1990.

tuna industry losses in Australia (1990s)

Answer: Option B
Supporting Sentence: A tuna kill in 1996 cost fish farmers an estimated $45 million.
Keyword: Australian waters, tuna kill
Keyword location: Para 8, Lines 1-3
Explanation: The first three lines of paragraph 8 depicts that tunafish industry got devastated in 1996 by the means of chattonella, which losses the fish farmers with a lump sum amount of $45 million.

fish kill in North Carolina (1980s)

Answer: Option A
Supporting Sentence: In the mid-1980s, fishermen in North Carolina, on the eastern coast of the United States, began complaining about mysterious fish kills.
Keyword: mysterious fish kills, North Carolina
Keyword location: Para 2, lines 1-5
Explanation: The first five lines of paragraph 2 explains that during the middle of the 1980s, the fisherman of North Carolina complained about the fishes getting killed suspiciously on the eastern shores of the United States. Howerver, the researchers puts light by exclaiming that Pfiesteria is an unknown microorganism that was culpable for killing fishes there.

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