You have to read an article, blog or web page, and answer six multiple choice questions. Each question has three options to choose between (A, B and C), and you have to tick the box next to the letter you have chosen.
The questions require you to understand ideas, opinions, attitudes and detail in the text. Some of the information might be clearly stated in the text, using different words or structures. Other information might be suggested or implied, rather than directly stated. Each answer is worth 1 mark, so there is a total of 6 marks for Exercise 4.
• Read the text through quickly before you look at the questions, to get a general idea of what it is about.
• Underline the important words in the first line of each question – nouns and verbs provide information that you might need to look for in the text. If the question begins with a question word (where, when, why, etc), think about what it means. For example, ‘where’ means ‘a place’; ‘how’ means ‘in what way’, and ‘why’ means ‘look for a reason or cause’. Some questions look like the beginning of a sentence instead, and the options are possible endings for that sentence.
• Try to match the words in the first line of the question with words in the text. When you locate the words in the text, read that section more carefully to find the answer. If you can’t match any words, remember that the words in the question might be synonyms (different words that have the same meaning) of the words in the text. If you still can’t find the right answer, read a bigger section of the text before and after the words you found, or make a guess.
• Remember that the answer you choose should match the information in the text exactly. If the information in the text looks a bit different, then it is probably not the correct answer – you need to read the text again or consider the other options.
• As well as choosing the correct answer, always think about why the other two options are wrong This is the best way to check your answers for this exercise.
• Remember that the questions are in the same order as the information in the text, so you will find the answer to Question 2 after the answer to Question 1, for example. However, the final question might test the overall idea of the text, which means the answer comes from the gist of the whole text.
• Only tick one box for each question. If you change your mind, make sure you indicate clearly which your final choice is – if you tick more than one box, you will not get a mark.
The prickly pear is a type of cactus, which is a plant that usually grows in hot, dry desert conditions, for example in Mexico or in South America. So you might be surprised to discover that it is now spreading across mountainsides in Switzerland – land which is typically covered in snow in winter.
I had to do a project last term on something to do with the environment. I couldn’t decide what to do it on, so I spent some time browsing websites one weekend, looking for something suitable. After a while, I came across some information about the issue of prickly pears growing in Switzerland. I immediately knew I’d found my topic, as although I hadn’t been recently, I have fond memories of a long summer holiday there in my childhood. I contacted my uncle, who is a biologist, to see if he knew about the issue. It was news to him, but he said he would look into it for me.
Lia chose to do a project on prickly pears in Switzerland because A B C
Copy the phrase that tells you on of the other answers is wrong;
Copy the phrase that tells you on of the other answers is wrong;
I wanted to know why prickly pears were a problem in Switzerland. I imagined that people walking in the hills and valleys where they are found might get hurt by them – the plants are covered in fine needle-like hairs which can stick to your skin and are difficult to remove. The plants are also spreading in areas where many people like to ski each winter. However, what is particularly concerning is that where the plants are found, they cover the soil completely. Flowers that used to be common in summer are now in danger of disappearing.
What is the main problem with prickly pears in Switzerland?
Copy the phrase which tells you it is the main idea out of the 3 given.
How did the prickly pears end up in Switzerland in the first place? Could they have been imported by someone who was interested in new species, and wanted to try growing them on their own land? I already knew that the plants produce fruit which is very tasty, and they have attractive flowers – could this have tempted someone? In the end I was only able to establish the fact that the plants have been present since the late eighteenth century, so they are far from being a recent introduction, as I had originally thought.
Lia discovered that prickly pear plants were first brought to Switzerland...
How do the question marks in this paragraph help you find the correct answer?
Scientists believe that a warmer climate in the mountains of Switzerland means that snow cover is diminishing – particularly down in the valleys, which in the past would have been (23) covered with snow each winter. This warmth is creating ideal conditions for the plants to spread. They can in fact tolerate low temperatures, but they need to be in a dry place and don’t like to be covered in snow.
What does ‘diminishing’ mean in line 23?
The aim now is to try to prevent the prickly pears from spreading further, and to remove them from the areas of land which are badly affected. But judging by previous attempts, this will be far from straightforward. In one area, large quantities of the plants were cut down, and they were placed in huge piles in a forest, where it was thought that the shade and humid air would make the material decay and eventually turn into new soil. However, what scientists soon discovered was that bits of plants at the top of these piles were growing into new plants. They also found that new plants were growing back in the areas where the plants had been removed.
This is clearly a serious matter, and I’m fascinated. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on what happens in the future.
What does Lia suggest about removing the prickly pear plants?
The purpose of the blog is to...