The Blog post contains the following IELTS Reading Questions:
- IELTS Reading Matching Features
- IELTS Reading Short Answer Questions
- IELTS Reading Multiple Choice Questions
IELTS reading passage – Beneath The Canopy
Beneath The Canopy
1. The world’s tropical rainforests cover around 6% of the planet’s surface area and are home to about 30 million plant and animal species, according to a conservative estimate. Some experts think there could be twice or even three times as many species buried within these complex and rapidly disappearing ecosystems; however, due to the massive amount of research required, scientists will likely never know for certain.
2.The clock is ticking on biological research. Each year, commercial development is responsible for the loss of around 17 million hectares of virgin rainforest, or approximately one percent of the world’s remaining rainforests.
3.Even if new tree growth may eventually repopulate felled places, the biologically varied storehouse of flora and animals is irretrievably lost as a result of the current destruction of the once-impenetrable rainforest. Losing this abundant legacy, which took millions of years to grow to its current highly developed level, would be an act of human foolishness without precedent.
4.Chemical substances that could be collected from undiscovered species lying beneath the tree canopy could be used to cure sickness or regulate fertility. Important medical discoveries have already been made using materials discovered in tropical rainforests, according to conservationists. The medication aspirin was first obtained from the bark of a rainforest tree. Two of the most potent anti-cancer medications are derived from a plant discovered in the tropical rainforests of Madagascar in the 1950s.
5.The potential rewards of discovery are great, but the prognosis is dismal. Indebted timber-rich nations are less interested in long-term financial growth than they are in short-term profits from logging. Cataloguing species and analyzing newly discovered chemicals consumes scarce lime and funds.
6.The industrial world never misses a chance to lecture rainforest-protecting nations. Rich nations encourage poor nations to safeguard and care for what remains left, ignoring the fact that their wealth is primarily the result of the exploitation of their natural surroundings.
7.The fact that woods formerly covered the majority of Europe is frequently forgotten. Over the years, vast swaths of forests have been cut down for the same reason that the remaining rainforests are being cut down today: timber. In addition to providing material for homes, it allowed affluent nations to construct enormous navies and transport fleets to continue their plundering of the world’s resources.
8.In addition, it is not evident that developing nations will inevitably gain monetarily from bioprospecting in their rainforests. The selling of pharmaceuticals generates enormous revenues for pharmaceutical corporations, with little return to the nation where the original discovery was produced.
9.In addition, the cataloguing of tropical biodiversity requires much more than the quest for medicinally effective and thus commercially viable medications. Painstaking biological fieldwork aids in the creation of huge databases of genetic, chemical, and behavioural information that will only be useful to countries with sufficient economic development to utilize them.
10.It is not only irresponsible logging that poses a threat to rainforests. In the late 1990s, Borneo’s forests were damaged by fires set to clear land for further logging, home construction, and agricultural expansion. Massive clouds of smoke from forest tire flames swept across the southernmost countries of South-East Asia, stifling cities and reminding even the strongest supporters of rainforest clearance of the swiftness of nature’s revenge.
11.Neither are the threats limited to the rainforests alone. Until relatively recently, so-called “lost” tribes – indigenous peoples with no touch with the outside world – resided in the depths of some rainforests. It seems unlikely that any more tribes are actually dead. Contact with the modern world eventually resulted in exploitation, the loss of traditional culture, and extinction in an alarming number of cases. 12.Forest-dwellers who have achieved environmental harmony have much to teach us about life beneath the tree canopy. If we do not listen, the consequences will affect all of humanity. The combination of biodiversity loss, climate change, and ecological degradation will have substantial and long-lasting effects.
Beneath The Canopy Reading Questions
Question 1– 6
Refer to Reading Passage: “Beneath the Canopy” and respond to the questions that follow. The left column contains direct quotations from the passage being read. These quotations are explained in the column to the right. Match each quote with its appropriate explanation. Choose from options A to F and record your responses in boxes 1 to 6 on your Answer Sheet.
| Quotation | Explanation |
| 1) a biologically varied repository of plant and animal life 2) a conservative prediction 3) “exploitation of their native ecosystem” 4) ‘wood-rich nations stuck in debt’ 5) “financially profit from extensive bioprospecting of their rainforests” 6) “declining biodiversity” | A. with several trees but limited financial means B. deliberately low and circumspect estimation C. extensive utilization of plant and wildlife D. gain through an examination of plant and animal life E. variety of plant and animal species F. being less endowed with natural resources |
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Question 7 – 10
Refer to the Reading Passage and consider the following questions 7- 9. Fill out boxes 7 – 9 on your Answer Sheet with your answers.
7) How many medical medication developments does the article discuss?
8) What two shortages does the author mention as reasons for his bleak outlook?
9) Who will most likely gain from bioprospecting in the rainforests of developing nations?
10) Where did two of the most potent anti-cancer medications derived?
Question 11 – 13
Refer to the Reading Passage and choose the option that best completes each sentence.
11 The annual quantity of rainforest loss is
- roughly 6% of the world’s land area
- Thus, it will only take one hundred years to eliminate all wood
- escalating at a startling rate.
- accountable for commercial development
12 Borneo in the late nineties:
- Europe was afflicted by air pollution concerns caused by forest fires.
- Due to forest fires, irresponsible logging occurred.
- To play the game of havoc, fires were started.
- None of the above.
13 Numerous “lost” tribes of particular rainforests:
- Damaged by interaction with the contemporary world
- Not understand how to harvest the jungle without harming the ecosystem
- Remain lost within the rainforest
- Must heed lest they have an effect on the entire human race
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Beneath the canopy reading answers
1.E
2.B
3.C
4.A
5.D
6.F
7.3
8.Time (and) money
9.Pharmaceutical Companies / Developed Nations
10.Madagascar
11.C.
12.D
13.A
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