Change and consequences

Reading Passage 1
You should spend 20 minutes on questions 1-14, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Technique
Follow these stages when you look at a reading passage and the associated questions:
1 Survey the title, text and questions in three or four seconds.
2 Use the title to think of the contents of the text.
3 Skim the text and questions. You should aim to eventually do this in two minutes.
4 Use the information from the question to help you to scan and locate the answers in
the reading passage.

Swallows in Migration
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Every April, along with many other species It is, however, rarely to be encountered in
of birds, the swallow arrives to spend the towns or cities.
summer months in northern Europe, in
For centuries, people have observed I 15
Russia, Iran and parts of Siberia. Here it will
swallows, noted their arrival and their
5 breed and raise its young.
patterns of feeding. In several countries,
The swallow is well known for several these observations have passed into
reasons Firstly, it is very distinctive, with the language as proverbs or sayings. In
its forked tail and characteristic acrobatic England, people comment on unpredictable 20
swooping flight. Secondly, it is very late spring weather by saying, 'one swallow
10 common, and, like its near relative the does not a summer make'. Similarly, 'the
house martin, lives in close proximity to swallows are flying low' was held to predict
Human habitation, at least in rural areas.. • rainy, even stormy weather. There may be

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 Unit 1
• 25 some truth in this observation, though it Europe have mostly been traced to East 70

• is the insects the swallows feed on that

seem to be more susceptible to the fall in
barometric pressure that heralds a storm.
Insects keep low in these conditions, and so
Africa, Kenya or Tanzania for example.
Above all, how does a bird weighing
approximately twenty grams find its way
across mountain ranges, ocean and desert
30 do the swallows that hunt them. At the end to winter in the south, and then return the 75
of the summer season, when the swallows following year to the very location it was
are about to leave, they frequently flock born, in some cases to the very same nest?
together in large numbers on convenient
high open perches, like roof ridges and Birds can navigate by the Sun, and are also
35 telegraph wires. When people remark that able to detect the magnetic field of the
'the swallows are gathering', they mean that Earth. Species that migrate at night are 80

autumn has arrived. also able to navigate by the stars. By these

means, they travel long distances. The close
At some point in mid-September the navigation that brings them back to the
swallows leave together, usually all on the same field or nest appears to be related to
40 same day. One day there are thousands, memory of local landmarks imprinted on the 85
the next there are none, and none will be minds of young birds as they crisscross the
seen again until the following spring. For area in the weeks before departure.
centuries, this was a complete mystery to
people. The Hampshire naturalist Gilbert Nevertheless, the journey is very dangerous.
45 White, writing in the late eighteenth century, Long sea crossings, where there is little
believed that the swallows dived into ponds available food or water, are generally 90

and rivers in autumn and remained in the avoided. In western Europe, most swallows
bottom mud the whole winter, re-emerging cross to Africa via the Straits of Gibraltar,
the following spring. This idea seems or fly the length of Italy before tackling the
50 extraordinary to us, but White was not a relatively short crossing to Tunisia in North
stupid man: many of his other observations Africa. However, in storms they may be 95

of natural life were informed and accurate. blown hundreds of kilometres off course.
In this case, however, he simply had no Exhausted swallows sometimes come to rest
means of determining the truth and was on ships way out in the Atlantic Ocean. They
55 forced to make a random guess. The idea have to cross mountain ranges too, where
that swallows migrate to central or southern again the weather may be unpredictable and 100

Africa would have seemed as fanciful to him food scarce. Along the coast of North Africa,
as his theory seems to us. many young swallows become the prey of
Eleonora's falcons, which time their breeding
Although we now know that swallows to coincide with the migration of young
60 migrate, there are still unanswered birds southwards. But the most dangerous 105
questions. Why do they go so far? Why not part of the journey is the crossing of the
stay on the shores of the Mediterranean? Sahara desert. Here, there is little food or
The majority continue to equatorial Africa, water, sandstorms may delay and exhaust
and some even further south. Also it the already weakened birds, and many die.
es appears that populations of swallows that It is estimated that around 50 per cent of 110
have bred in different countries also spend adult birds die, and up to 80 per cent of
the winter in different areas. Those from young birds, but enough survive to ensure
France, Germany and much of western the continuation of the species.

12
 Change and consequences

Questions 1-6 Technique

True/False/Not Given
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
1 Look for words n each
Write statement to help you
scan.
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information 2 Identify comparisons or
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information qualifying expresgions
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the statements.
3 Try to predict some
1 The swallow is the only species of bird that migrates to spend the
answers.
summer in northern Europe.
4 And your scan words
2 The swallow is easily noticeable because of its tail and the way it flies. in the text then read
around them closely
3 The swallow is frequently seen in cities. to locate the answers.
Remember that the
4 The insects, not the swallows themselves, appear to predict stormy answers follow the
weather. order of the reading
passage.
5 Swallows form larger flocks than other birds when they depart in the
autumn.
6 White's theory seems strange to people now.

Questions 7-12 Technique

Sentence completion
Complete the sentences.
1 Remember that the
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. answers follow the
order of the passage.
7 In the past, the destination of the swallows in autumn was a 2 Note the word limit for
each gap.
8 As White could not verify what happened to the swallows, he made a 3 Look for words in each
sentence to help you
scan.
9 Despite knowing that swallows migrate, we are still left with 4 Find your scan words
in the text. Think of the
part of the sentence the
10 Sometimes, swallows have been known to return not just to the same answer might be in: the
area, but even to the beginning or the end.
Then read around them
11 Birds that travel by night can find their way using the to locate the answers.
12 Bird navigation appears to be connected with the memory of Note in the sentences
for completion: 'a'
before the gap =
singular countable
noun, no article = plural
Questions 13 and 14 or uncountable noun,
the = any noun.
Choose TWO letters, A—F.
Which TWO of the following dangers faced by swallows during migration are
mentioned in the text?
A The Sahara desert D Hungry sailors
B Long sea crossings E Eleonora's falcons
C Lack of nesting places F The crossing to Tunisia

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