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Reading answers with explanations

IELTS · Part 2 · Cambridge 13 — Test 4

SAVING THE SOIL: Reading answers

Answers to questions 14–26 (13 in all), each with why it is right.

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Read the whole passage and answer in the exam interface, timed as on the day.

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The passage opens

More than a third of the Earth's top layer is at risk. Is there hope for our planet's most precious resource? A More than a third of the world's soil is endangered, according to a recent UN report.If we don't slow the decline, all farmable soil could be gone in 60 years.Since soil grows 95% of our food, and sustains human life in other more surprising ways, that is a huge problem. B Peter Groffman, from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York, points out that soil scientists have been warning about the degradation of the world's soil for decades.At the same time, our understanding of its importance to humans has grown.A single gram of healthy soil might contain 100 million…

Answers 14–26

  1. 14

    minerals Note completion

  2. 15

    carbon Note completion

  3. 16

    water Note completion

  4. 17

    agriculture Note completion

  5. 18

    Nutrients contained in the unused parts of harvested crops

    C: may not be put back into the soil. Matching features

  6. 19

    Synthetic fertilisers produced with the Haber-Bosch process

    E: may cause damage to different aspects of the environment. Matching features

  7. 20

    Addition of a mixture developed by Pius Floris to the soil

    A: may improve the number and quality of plants growing there Matching features

  8. 21

    The idea of zero net soil degradation

    D: may help governments to be more aware of soil-related issues. Matching features

  9. 22

    a reference to one person's motivation for a soil-improvement project

    E Matching information

  10. 23

    an explanation of how soil stayed healthy before the development of farming

    C Matching information

  11. 24

    examples of different ways of collecting information on soil degradation

    F Matching information

  12. 25

    a suggestion for a way of keeping some types of soil safe in the near future

    G Matching information

  13. 26

    a reason why it is difficult to provide an overview of soil degradation

    F Matching information

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