# Secrets of the Forest: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 3, Test 3, Reading Passage 2

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 3, Test 3, Reading Passage 2. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 13 | v | In 1942 Allan R Holmberg, a doctoral student in anthropology from Yale University |
| 14 | i | living proof that Amazonia could not - and cannot - sustain a more complex society |
| 15 | vi | the natural history of Amazonia is to a surprising extent tied to the activities of its prehistoric inhabitants |
| 16 | NO | the appearance is not the result of some environmental adaptation or ecological barrier |
| 17 | YES | would be enormously consequential if it were true ... But the human history of Amazonia in the past 11,000 years betrays that view as myth. |
| 18 | NOT GIVEN | political and environmental leaders from across the world met in Rio de Janeiro |
| 19 | NO | Ecologists have assumed that tropical ecosystems were shaped entirely by natural forces |
| 20 | YES | whose presence is in fact crucial to the survival of the forest |
| 21 | YES | with judicious management selected parts of the region could support more people than anyone thought before |
| 22 | C | led a "strikingly backward" existence ... "may be classified among the most handicapped peoples of the world" |
| 23 | A | the region has supported a series of indigenous cultures for eleven thousand years |
| 24 | B | an approach that leaves people out of the equation is no longer tenable |
| 25 | C | The new understanding of the pre-history of Amazonia, however, points toward a middle ground. |

## Why these answers are right

**13. v.** Paragraph A describes Allan Holmberg's 1942 fieldwork among the Siriono in the Bolivian jungle and what he wrote about their villages, food and tools. It is an account of early research among Amazonian Indians, so heading v fits best.

**14. i.** Paragraph B sets out the popular view of Amazonia as hostile to human civilization, in which simple Indian lifestyles are seen as living proof that the region could not sustain a more complex society. Heading i restates that idea closely.

**15. vi.** Paragraph D argues that ecologists were wrong to leave people out and ends by saying the natural history of Amazonia is closely tied to the activities of its prehistoric inhabitants. That conclusion is the main point, matching heading vi.

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