IELTS Reading: Task 2, Summary Completion
The summary completion task asks you to fill in blanks at the end of a sentence provided, where the blanks may be filled in from a given list of words or they must be taken from a given passage or text. Summaries are condensed versions of a text that usually have all the details taken from them – usually, the main ideas, events, and supporting sentences are summarized. However, vocabulary/ lexis is emphasized, so paraphrasing and synonymous language is used.
Note: There are more words listed in the box than are needed to fill in the blanks, so choose the correct word.
Procedure
- Read the text carefully. Are you obtaining your answers from a list or the text? How many words do you need to fill in the blanks? If the task says NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS and you fill in the blank with 3, your answer will be marked wrong. If your task uses a list, some answers can be eliminated immediately due to meaning or they do not grammatically fit.
- Skim/Read the summary as it is usually quite short and highlight keywords and predict the part of speech that might fill the blank.
- Start with the first blank and find the passage in the text that corresponds with that specific blank– it may use synonymous language or paraphrase the summary line.
- Check the grammar (part of speech) you are to fill in the blank with and reference the number of words needed.
- Enter your answer and repeat the procedure further down from your first answer as the next answer will be found below the first answer; hence, the next answer ‘Follows the Answer statements in order’.
Words from a text:
Questions 1 – 5
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
Many bees have specific features that help them (1) _______. For some bees it is size; for others, it is their agility. One bee that helps apple producers is called (2) _______. Certain bees can improve the quality of the crop it pollinates. Other bees have adjusted so well to pollinating certain plants that these are the only plants that they can pollinate. Sadly, some bee types are dying off due to (3) _______. Without bees, the human diet would not be as (4) _________. Bees provide security for governments and food producers; so much so, that even the United Nations suggests that bees are the best ways to sustain (5) __________.
| Bees are specialistsMany bees have different characteristics that make them suited to pollinate certain plants. For example, the Early bumblebee’s small size and agility allow it to enter plants with drooping flowers such as comfrey. Garden bumblebees are better at pollinating the deep flowers of honeysuckle and foxgloves than most other species because their long tongue can reach deep inside them.
Many farmers rely on a diversity of bees to pollinate their produce. For example, commercial apple growers benefit from the free pollination services of the Red Mason bee. This species can be 120 times more efficient at pollinating apple blossoms than honeybees. There is evidence that natural pollination by the right type of bee improves the quality of the crop – from its nutritional value to its shelf life. For example, bumblebees and solitary bees feed from different parts of strawberry flowers. In combination, they produce bigger, juicier, and more evenly-shaped strawberries. Some bee species have an affinity to particular plants, so they need particular natural habitats. For example, in the UK the scabious bee, our largest mining bee, needs the pollen of field scabious or small scabious to provision its young. These plants grow on sandy or chalky open grassland, an important habitat for a variety of bees and wildflowers that is under threat from changing land use. The loss of particular habitats like this is the main driver of bee decline. In a world without bees, we would probably survive. But our existence would be more precarious and our diets would be dull, poorer, and less nutritious. And not just for want of honey. Even some plants grown to feed livestock for meat production, such as clover and alfalfa, depend at least partly on bee pollination. Governments and food producers talk a lot about food security, yet without bees, our food supply would be insecure. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) identified encouraging pollinators – particularly bees – as one of the best sustainable ways to boost food security and support sustainable farming. All this natural crop pollination fills pockets as well as our bellies. The global market value linked to pollinators is between US$235bn and US$557bn each year. In the UK alone, the services of bees and other pollinators are worth £691m a year, in terms of the value of the crops they pollinate. It would cost the UK at least £1.8bn a year to employ people to do the work of these pollinators, yet bees do it for free. |
Why do we need bees? (2017, July 25). Retrieved June 15, 2020, from https://friendsoftheearth.uk/bees/why-do-we-need-bees
Answers:
- pollinate
- Red Mason
- habitat loss
- nutritious
- farming
