# The Svalbard Global Seed Vault: answers and explanations

Testmigo Practice Test 4, Reading Passage 2

Source: Written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 14 | G | the seeds of avocado, mango and cocoa, among others, die in such conditions |
| 15 | D | the vault is designed to hold up to 2.5 billion seeds |
| 16 | B | a feasibility study in 2004 decided that the mine would not do ... was too warm for long-term storage |
| 17 | F | more than 7 °C above normal |
| 18 | E | 116,476 samples, or 83 per cent of the collection |
| 19 | C | keeps a public online database of what is stored |
| 20 | A | went on to pay the whole construction bill of about 45 million kroner |
| 21 | E | would not eat them even as they starved |
| 22 | D | ICARDA made the first withdrawal in the vault's history |
| 23 | A | Norway removed heat sources from the tunnel |
| 24 | entrance tunnel | Meltwater ran into the start of the 100-metre entrance tunnel |
| 25 | heat sources | removed heat sources from the tunnel |
| 26 | orthodox | It accepts only so-called orthodox seeds |

## Why these answers are right

**14. G.** Paragraph G explains that the vault accepts only orthodox seeds and then names avocado, mango and cocoa as plants whose seeds die when dried and frozen. These three are the examples of crops that cannot be stored there.

**15. D.** Paragraph D states that the vault is designed to hold up to 2.5 billion seeds, after explaining that each packet contains an average of about 500. Designed to hold up to expresses the greatest number it could ever contain.

**16. B.** Paragraph B describes the old coal mine near Longyearbyen, where NordGen had kept backups since 1984, and gives two reasons the 2004 study rejected it: the frozen ground was too warm and the mine suffered from hydrocarbon gases.

The why and the trap for questions 17 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-svalbard-global-seed-vault/answers).

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