# The Truth about the Environment: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 5, Test 1, Reading Passage 3

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 5, Test 1, Reading Passage 3. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 27 | YES | For many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting worse. ... They have developed a hit-list of our main fears |
| 28 | NOT GIVEN | since the book 'The Limits to Growth' was published in 1972 by a group of scientists |
| 29 | NO | Fewer people are starving. |
| 30 | NOT GIVEN | although species are indeed becoming extinct, only about 0.7% of them are expected to disappear in the next 50 years |
| 31 | YES | or are transient - associated with the early phases of industrialisation |
| 32 | NO | best cured not by restricting economic growth, but by accelerating it |
| 33 | C | Scientific funding goes mainly to areas with many problems. |
| 34 | D | they sometimes overstate their arguments ... The truth turns out to be nearer 20%. |
| 35 | C | A trade organisation arguing for, say, weaker pollution controls is instantly seen as self-interested. ... Yet a green organisation opposing such a weakening is seen as altruistic |
| 36 | B | Newspapers and broadcasters are there to provide what the public wants. |
| 37 | B | will still take up only one - 12,000th of the area of the entire United States |
| 38 | E | does appear to be a phenomenon that is going to extend well into our future |
| 39 | D | A bigger problem may well turn out to be an inappropriate response to it. |
| 40 | I | the world's single, most pressing health problem |

## Why these answers are right

**27. YES.** The statement says environmentalists are pessimistic for several reasons. The writer says that for many environmentalists the world seems to be getting worse, then gives their hit-list of fears: resources, population, extinction and pollution. Several fears count as several reasons, so YES.

**28. NOT GIVEN.** The statement says resource data has only been collected since 1972. The writer mentions 1972 only as the year 'The Limits to Growth' was published, a starting point for comparing resources then and now. Nothing says when data collection began, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.

**29. NO.** The statement says the number of starving people has gone up. The writer says more food is now produced per head than at any time in history and then states plainly that fewer people are starving. That is the opposite of an increase, so the answer is NO.

The why and the trap for questions 30 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-truth-about-the-environment/answers).

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