Honey Badgers
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow
What's fiercer than a lion but smaller than a beagle? The honey badger, one of the toughest mammals in
Africa and western Asia. Honey badgers stand less than a foot high. They are only a couple feet long.
They weigh just over 20 pounds. Yet they have a reputation for toughness that is far greater than their
size. Some honey badgers will chase away lions and take their kills. I guess that goes to show you that
size isn't the only thing that matters in a fight.
So what makes the honey badger so tough? They have speed, stamina, and agility, but so do many
animals. They aren't stronger than lions, so how do they stop them? The thing that sets the honey
badger apart is their skin. Their skin is thick and tough. Arrows, spears, and bites from other animals can
rarely pierce it. Small bullets can't even penetrate it. Not only is their skin thick and tough, it is also
loose. This allows them to twist and turn to attack while another animal is gripping them. The only safe
grip one can get on a honey badger is on the back of their necks.
Honey badgers have long, sharp claws. These claws are good for attacking and even better for digging.
Honey badgers are some of nature's most skilled diggers. They can dig a nine-foot tunnel into hard
ground in about 10 minutes. They love to catch a meal by digging up the burrows of frogs, rodents, and
cobras. They also use their digging skills to create their homes. They live in small chambers in the ground
and defend them fiercely. They will attack horses, cows, and even water buffalo if they are foolish
enough to poke around a honey badger's den.
You don't get a reputation like the honey badger by running from danger. The honey badger is fearless
and a tireless fighter. They will attack any creature that threatens them, man included. Because of the
honey badger's reputation, most predators avoid them. Some animals use the honey badger's rep to
their advantage. Adult cheetahs have spotted coats, but their kittens have silver manes and look like
honey badgers. Some scientists believe that their coloring tricks predators into avoiding them. Wouldn't
you walk the other way if you saw a honey badger?
You might be wondering: "If honey badgers are so tough, how did they get a name that makes them
sound like a piece of candy?" The answer makes sense. Since honey badgers have such thick skin, bee
stings rarely harm them. So honey badgers love to raid beehives. I can't blame them. Who doesn't like
free honey? Honey badgers chase after honey aggressively. So much so that beekeepers in Africa have
to use electric fencing to hold them back. There's nothing sweet about that.
Beekeepers aren't the only people who have grown to hate honey badgers. Honey badgers may be fun
to read about, but they are nasty neighbors. They attack chickens, livestock, and some say children,
though they usually leave people alone. But if a honey badger moves in your backyard, there's not a
whole lot that you can do about it. I mean, are you going to go and tangle with an animal that eats the
bones of its prey? An animal with teeth strong enough to crunch through turtle shells? An animal that
never tires, gives up, or backs down? Yeah, I wouldn't either...
1. Which best expresses the main idea of the third paragraph?
a. Honey badgers have sharp claws that they use for fighting.
b. Honey badgers digging skills assist them in many ways.
c. Honey badgers use their claws to defend their homes.
d. Honey badgers will defend their homes to the death against any animal.
2. Which statement would the author most likely agree with?
a. What makes the honey badger so tough is their speed and strength.
b. Honey badgers are large in size and tireless in fighting spirit.
c. What makes honey badgers so tough is their thick, loose skin.
d. Honey badgers got their name from the sweet taste of their meat.
3. Which best defines the meaning of the word burrows as it is used in the third paragraph?
a. Lily pads or other seaweeds in which animals hide
b. Holes or tunnels in which animals live
c. A nest or animal dwelling in a tree or bush
d. A water supply where small animals come to drink
4. Which best expresses the main idea of the last paragraph?
a. Honey badgers are a nuisance to the neighborhood.
b. Beekeepers and honey badgers do not get along well.
c. Honey badgers have very strong jaws and teeth.
d. Honey badgers eat chicken and livestock.
5. Which best describes one of the author's main purposes in writing this text?
a. To persuade readers to join the efforts to protect honey badgers
b. To compare and contrast honey badgers with beagles and lions
c. To describe how honey badgers select their partners
d. To explain why honey badgers are so tough
6. Which statement would the author most likely disagree with?
a. Honey badgers like to raid beehives to eat honey.
b. Honey badgers are not the biggest animals, but they may be the toughest.
c. Honey badgers disguise their young to look like cheetah kittens.
d. Honey badgers are not afraid to fight with humans.
Matching Headings to Paragraphs -
Divided opinions over genetically modified crops and foods
A) Europeans tend to be skeptical about the consumption of genetically modified foods and there
is strong consumer pressure, supported by the Green parties, to ban farmers from growing GM
crops in the European Union (EU). However 5.5 million farmers worldwide, mainly in the US,
Argentina, Canada and China, now grow GM crops covering more than 50 million hectares, an
area the size of Spain. Other Asian countries such as India are enthusiastic and Indonesia is about
to join the GM club, so despite the Europeans, GM crop growth is increasing globally.
B) A recent British scientists' report emphasizes that inserting genes into plants is still a very
inexact science, so unexpected biochemical side effects are possible, affecting foodstuffs and
human consumers. Legally, GM companies have to demonstrate that their crops are
"substantially equivalent" to the originals, but what does this mean? That they should contain the
same nutrients? That they should look and smell similar? Scientists who not long ago dismissed
public concerns as hysteria are now concurring with green consumer activists and advising
tougher regulation.
C) More consensus and definition is required on this controversial topic. Currently, it seems that
most American consumers trust GM food producers and associated big businesses, whilst
Europeans do not. Canadians are skeptical: their studies of cross pollinated "super strains"
indicate problems such as potential super viruses. Dutch studies however, suggest that
engineered sugar beet is friendlier to wildlife and less damaging to the environment: it needs less
herbicide for the same yield, allowing more weed biomass and increased insects and spiders,
which in turn feed increased birdlife. These results are significant, as European law states that
GM crops may be banned if they can be proved to damage the environment.
D) Attitudes to GM crops appear to depend on where one lives and what one does. Cotton
farmers in South Africa are very enthusiastic, as their first GM cotton crop proved extremely
successful, boosting yields by 50 - 90%. "Bt cotton" contains a gene for a bacterial toxin that
kills their major pest, bollworms and reduces the need for pesticides. Growing GM cotton
requires less labour time, an important factor in a region ravaged by HIV/AIDS. Bt cotton seed
yield shows increases of up to 129%; unsurprisingly, use grew from only 0.1 per cent of farmers
in 1997/98 to over 90 per cent by 2001/02. Opponents of GM crops claim that pests will develop
resistance soon and that small farmers relying completely on the modified strain are particularly
vulnerable to changes in market conditions.
E) India is also pleased with its high relative yields of GM cotton and generally, yield increases
in the developing world are turning out to be much higher than those of the 'first' world. It is
understandable therefore, that developing countries are keen to embrace GM foods and farming
methods, whilst many western farmers and consumers remain skeptical.
F) Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the government's leaflet, 'GM Food Newsletter', is annoying
consumer activists and environmentalists. In the leaflet, a university biotechnology student
explains to her mother that all GM foods are safety-assessed and are "as safe as their
conventional counterparts". The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department says it was
published "with a view to enhancing the knowledge of the public on GM food".
G) Greenpeace call it "blatant pro-GM food propaganda" however, and claim "The government
is pushing GM food safety whilst at the same time understating the potential risks". It adds the
government's role is "to educate and inform the public, not to blatantly promote what is an
unproven technology." Greenpeace do not believe that a reasonable system of pre-market safety
assessments exists in Hong Kong and have been actively campaigning for the compulsory
labelling of GM ingredients. The government argues that assessment is adequate enough to allay
public fears and that labelling of GM foods should be voluntary.
H) Park'n'Shop and Wellcome allow distribution of the GM newsletter, but a spokeswoman said
this did not necessarily imply active approval of GM foods, adding they had previously helped
the government deliver a series of education leaflets, posters and information on SARS and
dengue fever. "Our policy on GM food is neutral" she said.
696 words
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Paragraph
A)
Growing importance pf GM foods
B)
Legal implications
C)
Attitudes worldwide to Gm Foods
D)
Reactions of Gm cotton
E)
Differing yields in developing and 'first' worlds
F)
Hong kong government's 'marketing' of GM foods
G)
Environmentalists' reaction
H)
supermarkets' policy
How humans evolved language
A
Thanks to the field of linguistics we know much about the development of the 5,000
plus languages in existence today. We can describe their grammar and pronunciation
and see how their spoken and written forms have changed over time. For example, we
understand the origins of the Indo-European group of languages, which includes
Norwegian, Hindi and English, and can trace them back to tribes in eastern Europe in
about 3000 BC.
So, we have mapped out a great deal of the history of language, but there are still
areas we know little about. Experts are beginning to look to the field of evolutionary
biology to find out how the human species developed to be able to use language. So
far, there are far more questions and half-theories than answers.
We know that human language is far more complex than that of even our nearest and
most intelligent relatives like chimpanzees. We can express complex thoughts, convey
subtle emotions and communicate about abstract concepts such as past and future. And
we do this following a set of structural rules, known as grammar. Do only humans use
an innate system of rules to govern the order of words? Perhaps not, as some research
may suggest dolphins share this capability because they are able to recognise when
these rules are broken.
If we want to know where our capability for complex language came from, we need to
look at how our brains are different from other animals. This relates to more than just
brain size; it is important what other things our brains can do and when and why
they evolved that way. And for this there are very few physical clues; artefacts left by
our ancestors don't tell us what speech they were capable of making. One thing we can
see in the remains of early humans, however, is the development of the mouth, throat
and tongue. By about 100,000 years ago, humans had evolved the ability to create
complex sounds. Before that, evolutionary biologists can only guess whether or not
early humans communicated using more basic sounds.
D
Another question is, what is it about human brains that allowed language to evolve in a
way that it did not in other primates? At some point, our brains became able to make
our mouths produce vowel and consonant sounds, and we developed the capacity to
invent words to name things around us. These were the basic ingredients for complex
language. The next change would have been to put those words into sentences, similar
to the 'protolanguage' children use when they first learn to speak. No one knows if the
next step – adding grammar to signal past, present and future, for example, or plurals
and relative clauses – required a further development in the human brain or was simply
a response to our increasingly civilised way of living together.
Between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, though, we start to see the evidence of early
human civilisation, through cave paintings for example; no one knows the connection
between this and language. Brains didn't suddenly get bigger, yet humans did become
more complex and more intelligent. Was it using language that caused their brains to
develop? Or did their more complex brains start producing language?
More questions lie in looking at the influence of genetics on brain and language
development. Are there genes that mutated and gave us language ability? Researchers
have found a gene mutation that occurred between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago,
which seems to have a connection with speaking and how our brains control our
mouths and face. Monkeys have a similar gene, but it did not undergo this mutation.
It's too early to say how much influence genes have on language, but one day the
answers might be found in our DNA.
Match the headings with the parts of the text (A–E).
1. How unique are we?___________________
B
2. How linguistic capacity evolved _________________
D
3. What we know _______________
A
4. The physical evidence _____________
C
5. The tiny change that may separate us from monkeys ________________
E
Are the sentences true or false?
1. Experts fully understand how the Hindi language developed.
True
False
2. The grammar of dolphin language follows the same rules as human language.
True
False
3. Brain size is not the only factor in determining language capability.
True
False
4. The language of very young children has something in common with the way our prehistoric ancestors may have
spoken.
True
False
5. When people started using complex language, their brains got bigger.
True
False
6. The role of genetics in language capacity is not yet clear.
True
False
