IPP Edu – LISTENING/ READING

CYCLE 04 – READING 07
C4R7
Reading passage 1
Australia’s platypus
Of all the creatures on the earth, the Australian platypus, Omithorbynchusparadoxus, is perhaps
one of the most mysterious and reclusive. Derived from the Latin platys meaning ‘flat and broad’ and
pous meaning ‘foot’, the platypus has long been an iconic symbol of Australia. Upon being discovered
in Australia in the 1700s, sketches of this unusual creature were made and sent back to England
whereupon they were considered by experts to be a hoax. Indeed, the incredible collection of its body
parts – broad, flat tail, rubbery snout, webbed feet, and short dense fur – make it one of the world’s most
unusual animals.
Officially classified as a mammal, the egg-laying platypus is mostly active during the night, a
nocturnal animal. As if this combination of characteristics and behaviors were not unusual enough, the
platypus is the only Australian mammal known to be venomous. The male platypus has a sharply pointed,
moveable spur on its hind foot which delivers a poison capable of killing smaller animals and causing
severe pain to humans. The spur – about 2 centimeters in length – is quite similar to the fang of a snake
and, if provoked, is used as a means of defense. Those who have been stung by a platypus’ spur report
an immediate swelling around the wound followed by increased swelling throughout the affected limb.
Excruciating, almost paralyzing pain in the affected area accompanies the sting which, in some victims,
has been known to last for a period of months. One report from a victim who was stung in the palm of
the hand states that ‘… the spur could not be pulled out of the hand until the platypus was killed’. During
the breeding season, the amount of venom in the male platypus increases. This has led some zoologists
to theorize that the poisonous spur is primarily for asserting dominance amongst fellow-males. To be
stung by a male platypus is a rare event with only a very small number of people being on the receiving
end of this most reclusive creature.
In the same area of the hind foot where the male has the poisonous spur, the female platypus only
develops two buds which drop off in their first year of life never to appear again. The female platypus
produces a clutch of one to three eggs in late winter or spring, incubating them in an underground burrow.
The eggs are 15-18 millimeters long and have a whitish, papery shell like those of lizards and snakes.
The mother is believed to keep the eggs warm by placing them between her lower belly and curled-up
tail for a period of about 10 or 11 days as she rests in an underground nest made of leaves or other
vegetation collected from the water. The baby platypus drinks a rich milk which is secreted from two
round patches of skin midway along the mother’s belly. It is believed that a baby platypus feeds by
slurping up milk with rhythmic sweeps of its stubby bill. When the juveniles first enter the water at the
age of about four months, they are nearly (80-90%) as long as an adult. Male platypus do not help to
raise the young.
In Australia, the platypus is officially classified as ‘Common but Vulnerable’. As a species, it is
not currently considered to be endangered. However, platypus populations are believed to have declined

Page 1 | 8
 IPP Edu – LISTENING/ READING
CYCLE 04 – READING 07
or disappeared in many catchments1, particularly in urban and agricultural landscapes. In most cases, the
specific underlying reasons for the reduction in numbers remain unknown. Platypus surveys have only
been carried out in a few catchments in eastern Australia. It is therefore impossible to provide an accurate
estimate of the total number of platypus remaining in the wild. Based on recent studies, the average
platypus population density along relatively good quality streams in the foothills of Victoria’s Great
Dividing Range is only around one to two animals per kilometer of channel. Because platypus are
predators near the top of the food chain and require large amounts of food to survive (up to about 30%
of a given animal’s body weight each day), it is believed that their numbers are most often limited by the
availability of food, mainly in the form of bottom-dwelling aquatic invertebrates such as shrimps, worms,
yabbies, pea-shell mussels, and immature and adult aquatic insects. Small frogs and fish eggs are also
eaten occasionally, along with some terrestrial insects that fall into the water from overhanging
vegetation.
Until the early twentieth century, platypus were widely killed for their fur. The species is now
protected by law throughout Australia. Platypus are wild animals with specialized living requirements.
It is illegal for members of the public to keep them in captivity. A platypus which has been accidentally
captured along a stream or found wandering in an unusual place should never be taken home and treated
as a pet, even for a brief time. The animal will not survive the experience. Only a small number of
Australian zoos and universities hold a permit to maintain platypus in captivity for legitimate display or
research purposes. Current Australian government policy does not allow this species to be taken overseas
for any reason.

Questions 1 – 8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading passage 1?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information;
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information;
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.
1. The appearance of the platypus caused experts to doubt it was real. ..........
2. Snake venom and platypus venom are only similar in appearance. ..........
3. The amount of venom in a male platypus changes during the year. ..........
4. Zoologists believe it is important to measure the amount of female platypus venom during breeding
seasons. ..........
5. Most platypus live in Eastern Australia. ..........
6. It is possible to estimate the population size of wild platypus. ..........
7. Platypus could survive on limited amounts of food. ..........
8. In the past, display and research activities carried out on platypus did not require a state’s permit.
..........

1
Catchments are an area of land drained by a creek or river system, or a place set aside for collecting water which runs off the surface
of the land.
Page 2 | 8
 IPP Edu – LISTENING/ READING
CYCLE 04 – READING 07
Questions 09 – 13
Complete the sentences below. Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
 On the hind feet, the male has a 9 …………… while the young female has two buds.
 Platypus eggs resemble those of snakes and 10 ……………
 Baby platypuses have the first exposure of 11 …………… when they turn four months old.
 Platypus numbers in cities and 12 …………… areas have declined in many catchments.
 Platypus numbers are low which is probably due to a lack of 13 ……………

Reading passage 2
Roller coaster: The great fairground attraction
How they move
Like a passenger train, a roller coaster consists of a series of connected cars that move on a track.
But unlike a passenger train, it has no engine or power source of its own. For most of the ride, it is moved
only by the forces of inertia and gravity. The only exertion of energy occurs at the very beginning of the
ride when the coaster train is pulled up the lift hill.
The traditional lifting mechanism is a long length of chain running up the hill under the track. The
chain is fastened in a loop, which is wound around a gear at the top of the hill and another one at the
bottom of the hill. The gear at the bottom of the hill is turned by a motor. This turns the chain so that it
continually moves up the hill like a long conveyor belt. The coaster cars grip onto the chain, which simply
pulls them to the top of the hill. At the summit, the train is released and starts its descent.
The purpose of this initial ascent is to build up a sort of reservoir of potential energy, which simply
means that as the coaster gets higher in the air, there is a greater distance gravity can pull it down.
As the train starts coasting down the hill, this potential energy is converted into kinetic energy
(energy of motion), and the train speeds up. At the bottom of the hill, this has reached its maximum, and
this propels the train up the second hill, again building up the potential energy level.
In this way, the course of the track is constantly converting energy from kinetic to potential and
back again. This fluctuation in acceleration is what makes roller coasters so much fun. At its most basic
level, this is all a roller coaster is – a machine that uses gravity and inertia to send a train along a winding
track.
Coasting through history
Roller coasters have a long, fascinating history. Their direct ancestors were ice slides, popular in
Russia in the 16th and 17th centuries. They consisted of a long, steep, wooden slide covered in ice. Riders
walked up a ladder or set of stairs to the top of the slide, as high as 21 meters up. At the top, they climbed
into sleds made out of wood or blocks of ice and shot down the slope. At the base of the slide, the sleds
would crash-land in a sand pile.
It seems that the idea was then imported into France. For most of the year, the warmer climate
would melt the ice, so the French started building waxed slides instead. To help the sleds move down
these slides, they added wheels, and in 1817, for the first time, a train was attached to the track. The

Page 3 | 8
 IPP Edu – LISTENING/ READING
CYCLE 04 – READING 07
French continued to expand on this idea, coming up with more complex track layouts, with multiple cars
and all sorts of twists and turns.
The first American roller coaster was built in the mountains of Pennsylvania in the mid-1800s,
originally to provide an easy way to send coal to the railway 29km down to mountain. When the track
was first build, a crew at the bottom of the mountain would attach the cart to a team of mules after
emptying the load, and the mules would drag it back up to the top. They were eventually replaced with
steam engines, to make the system more efficient.
Soon after these improvements were made, the railway company built a new tunnel that brought
the freight trains much closer to the coal mine. Now no longer required for its original purpose, the roller
coaster was configured as a ‘scenic tour’. For one dollar, tourists got a leisurely ride up to the top of the
mountain, followed by a wild, bumpy ride straight down. This was soon a resounding success, attracting
thousands of tourists every year.
Scenic rides like this continued to thrive and were joined by wooden roller coasters similar to the
ones we know today. These coasters were the main attraction at popular amusement parks throughout
the United States, such as the many parks of Coney Island in New York. By the 1920s, roller coasters
were in full swing, with some 2,000 rides in operation around the country. Following the Great
Depression, a decline in roller coaster production began in the early 1930s, but a second roller-coaster
boom in the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s made the amusement park industry stronger, and
introduced a slew of innovative tubular steel coasters.
This was followed by a decline in interest for the rest of the decade, but since the early 1990s, the
amusement-park industry has experienced another coaster boom of sorts. New launching techniques and
other technological developments have opened up a world of options for designers so in some rides you
feel as if you are flying. In the next few years, we can expect to see many faster, taller, and more twisted
rides popping up in amusement parks around the world.

Page 4 | 8
 IPP Edu – LISTENING/ READING
CYCLE 04 – READING 07
Questions 14 – 16

14. ……………
15. ……………
16. ……………

Questions 17 – 21
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
History of roller coasters
Modern roller coasters are descended from 16th-century Russian slides with a surface of 17
…………… People climbed to the top, and traveled down in sleds. In France, because of the higher
temperatures, the wooden surface on the slides was 18 …………… and 19 …………… were attached
to the cars to ease the descent. The first US roller coaster was used for transporting 20 …………… down
a mountainside in carts. Initially, these were pulled by mules, but later power was produced by 21
……………

Page 5 | 8
 IPP Edu – LISTENING/ READING
CYCLE 04 – READING 07
Questions 22 – 26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading passage 2?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information;
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information;
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.
22. The earliest modifications to the basic slide were made in France. ...........
23. Roller coasters continued to increase in popularity throughout the 1920s and 1930s. ...........
24. New roller coaster technology was introduced in the 1970s in response to public demand. ...........
25. Roller coasters were less popular for most of the 1980s than in the 1970s and 1990s. ...........
26. The design of roller-coaster rides became more varied in the 1990s. ...........

Reading passage 3
Collecting ant specimens
Collecting ants can be as simple as picking up stray ones and placing them in a glass jar, or as
complicated as completing an exhaustive survey of all species present in an area and estimating their
relative abundances. The exact method used will depend on the final purpose of the collections. For
taxonomy, or classification, long series, from a single nest, which contain all castes (workers, including
majors and minors, and, if present, queens and males) are desirable, to allow the determination of
variation within species. For ecological studies, the most important factor is collecting identifiable
samples of as many of the different species present as possible. Unfortunately, these methods are not
always compatible. The taxonomist sometimes overlooks whole species in favor of those groups
currently under study, while the ecologist often collects only a limited number of specimens of each
species, thus reducing their value for taxonomic investigations.
To collect as wide a range of species as possible, several methods must be used. These include
hand collecting, using baits to attract the ants, ground litter sampling, and the use of pitfall traps. Hand
collecting consists of searching for ants everywhere they are likely to occur. This includes on the ground,
under rocks, logs, or other objects on the ground, in rotten wood on the ground or on trees, in vegetation,
on tree trunks and under bark. When possible, collections should be made from nests or foraging columns
and at least 20 to 25 individuals collected. This will ensure that all individuals are of the same species,
and so increase their value for detailed studies. Since some species are largely nocturnal, collecting
should not be confined to daytime. Specimens are collected using an aspirator (often called a pooter),
forceps, a fine, moistened paint brush, or fingers, if the ants are known not to sting. Individual insects
are placed in plastic or glass tubes (1.5-3.0ml capacity for small ants, 5-8ml for larger ants) containing
75% to 95% ethanol. Plastic tubes with secure tops are better than glass because they are lighter, and do
not break as easily if mishandled.
Baits can be used to attract and concentrate foragers. This often increases the number of
individuals collected and attracts species that are otherwise elusive. Sugars and meats or oils will attract
different species and a range should be utilized. These baits can be placed either on the ground or on the
trunks of trees or large shrubs. When placed on the ground, baits should be situated on small paper cards
Page 6 | 8
 IPP Edu – LISTENING/ READING
CYCLE 04 – READING 07
or other flat, light-colored surfaces, or in test-tubes or vials. This makes it easier to spot ants and to
capture them before they can escape into the surrounding leaf litter.
Many ants are small and forage primarily in the layer of leaves and other debris on the ground.
Collecting these species by hand can be difficult. One of the most successful ways to collect them is to
gather the leaf litter in which they are foraging and extract the ants from it. This is most commonly done
by placing leaf litter on a screen over a large funnel, often under some heat. As the leaf litter dries from
above, ants (and other animals) move downward and eventually fall out the bottom and are collected in
alcohol placed below the funnel. This method works especially well in rain forests and marshy areas. A
method of improving the catch when using a funnel is to sift the leaf litter through a coarse screen before
placing it above the funnel. This will concentrate the litter and remove larger leaves and twigs. It will
also allow more litter to be sampled when using a limited number of funnels.
The pitfall trap is another commonly used tool for collecting ants. A pitfall trap can be any small
container placed in the ground with the top level with the surrounding surface and filled with a
preservative. Ants are collected when they fall into the trap while foraging. The diameter of the traps can
vary from about 18mm to 10cm and the number used can vary from a few to several hundred. The size
of the traps used is influenced largely by personal preference (although larger sizes are generally better),
while the number will be determined by the study being undertaken. The preservative used is usually
ethylene glycol or propylene glycol, as alcohol will evaporate quickly and the traps will dry out. One
advantage of pitfall traps is that they can be used to collect over a period of time with minimal
maintenance and intervention. One disadvantage is that some species are not collected as they either
avoid the traps or do not commonly encounter them while foraging.

Questions 27 – 30
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading passage 3?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information;
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information;
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.
27. Taxonomic research involves comparing members of one group of ants. .......
28. New species of ant are frequently identified by taxonomists. .......
29. Range is the key criterion for ecological collections. .......
30. A single collection of ants can generally be used for both taxonomic and ecological purposes. .......

Page 7 | 8
 IPP Edu – LISTENING/ READING
CYCLE 04 – READING 07
Questions 31 – 36
Classify the following statements as referring to…
NB You may choose any letter more than once.
A. Hand collecting.
B. Using bait.
C. Sampling ground litter.
D. Using a pitfall trap.

31. It is preferable to take specimens from groups of ants. ..........

Questions 37 – 40
Label the diagram below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Page 8 | 8