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BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 461
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 461 – PASSAGE – 1
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 461
READING PASSAGE – 1
A state of paradox
A. Chhattisgarh is a state of paradoxes. It is one of the youngest states in India, but its heritage can be traced as far back as the Stone Age. It is a state where an exquisite tapestry of age-old customs and rituals has retained its colours and vibrancy, despite the increasing influences that permeate across a border shared with six other states. It is a place where two distinctly different cultures- that of the kings and the tribes- manage to co-exist peacefully.
On one hand are the Nagwanshis, whose progressive mindset is reflected in the erotic sculptures that adorn the walls of the Bhoramdeo temple. And on the other hand is the Bastar tribe that still preserves a custom like ghotul in which a young man of marriageable age lives with his prospective bride for months before the two decide that they are compatible and would like to be married by the tribal elders.
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B. The best way to see this state of paradoxes is to make Raipur your base camp. Located in the middle of the state, all the routes literally become the spokes of a wheel from here. After a stop at the Palace of Kawardha and Bhoramdeo temple, I made a trip to the Achanakmar wildlife sanctuary. The roads were lined with trees, but not a single wild animal was in sight.
That was when I began to realize the perils of afforestation; the unending plantations of commercially viable sal, teak, bamboo and tendu trees may give the state a lush green canopy but they cannot sustain wildlife. When natural forests give way to planted ones, the forest floor- a fragile bio-network of organisms, insects, birds, reptiles and mammals- disappears along the way. The absence of wildlife was all the more poignant in this forest, which is located so close to two sanctuaries in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, Kanha and Bandhavgarh, that are both teeming with life.
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C. In other forests of the state, different problems seem to be at blame. At Tamor Pingle, an exquisite natural forest in the northern-most tip of Chhattisgarh, intense Naxalite activities have pushed wild animals deeper and deeper into the forest. At the Badalkhol sanctuary, the relentless traffic to the famous hill station of Jashpur has made the wild animals anxious and elusive. It was on this trip that I chanced Spotting a road sign that said ‘Amritdhara, 15 km’, we decided to take the detour and were rewarded with the sight of a waterfall cascading down glistening rocks lined with moss.
Though I saw larger and more impressive waterfalls later, this accidental discovery held a sweet charm. Continuing the journey to the state’s jungles, I travelled the length of Chhattisgarh to reach Kanger Valley National Park that is home to two of India’s most breathtaking waterfalls; Chitrakoot and Tirathgarh. On the way, I stopped at Bastar, the famed tribal land that is equally well-known for Naxalite rebellion. In fact, as I was noting the Harappan influences on the tribe’s terracotta work and admiring the minimalistic quality of their wrought iron sculptures, a series of seven landmine blasts were set off a mere twenty km away. Probably pushing the hapless wild animals deeper into the heart of the national park.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
D. The next stop en route were the Kutumsar Caves, which are a gallery of god’s own sculptures, created by Him many millennia ago using molten lava as colour and the walls of the caves as his canvas. As you enter the caves through a narrow gap in the mountain, and flash your searchlight on the wet and humid walls, a hundred abstract images of stalactites and stalagmites come alive. And you start giving meaning to those timeless forms, depending upon the state of your mind at that point in time.
I was still pondering on them as we travelled through dense tropical forest to reach the Tirathgarh waterfall on the Kanger River. It is a waterfall that does not cascade, but gently rolls down a hundred steps, carved by nature, a century at a time. The nearby Chitrakoot waterfall is a study in contrast. Here the river Indravati takes a massive hundred feet free fall at three spots along a horse-shoe-shaped gorge.
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E. On the last leg of the trip, driving back from Kanger to Raipur, I kept my eyes and ears open for any sign of Chhattisgarh’s elusive wildlife. We hoped against all odds for a repeat of our visit to the neighbouring Pench sanctuary, where we spotted a leopard towards the end of the trip. But I soon realized that in nature, there is no action replay. We returned after a ten-day trip from the Greenland of India, a state that is blessed with three national parks and eleven sanctuaries, without any entry in our personal log-books.
It is a telling comment on the state of affairs, one that is heightened by the fact that the last female wild buffalo, unique to this state, is kept in an enclosure in Udanti Wildlife Sanctuary with the fond hope of finding a male for it to breed with. The last five surviving specimens of the state bird, the Bastar Hill Myna, are only to be found in an enclosure in Kanger, with the hope that they will bred in captivity and not be wiped off the face of this earth.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
Questions 1-5
Reading passage 1 has five paragraphs, A-E.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
1. Problems faced by wild animals in different forests in Chhattisgarh.
2. The fact that two totally different cultures exist together in Chhattisgarh.
3. Examples of some animals which are on the verge of extinction.
4. Contrasting nature of two different waterfalls.
5. Information that artificial forests fail to attract wild life.
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Questions 6-10
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Chhattisgarh- a State of paradox
Though Chhattisgarh is a new state, its heritage dates back to (6)………….. The state has (7)………….. notably distinct (8)………….. which exist together. Though the state claims to have two-third (9)………….. number of (10)………….. is alarmingly less.
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Questions 11-13
Which three of the following can be inferred from Reading Passage 1?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.
A. Chhattisgarh is rich in both flora and fauna.
B. Artificial forestation has failed to support wild life.
C. Naxalite activities and heavy traffic are two problems that keep wild life away from Chhattisgarh forests.
D. Deforestation is taking place at an alarming rate in Chhattisgarh forests.
E. Chhattisgarh has a not so old culture and heritage.
F. The number of wild animals is alarmingly less in Chhattisgarh forests.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
IELTS Academic Reading Test
ANSWERS
1. C
2. A
3. E
4. D
5. B
6. STONE AGE
7. TWO
8. CULTURES
9. GREEN COVER
10. ANIMALS
11. B/C/F
12. B/C/F
13. B/C/F
IELTS Academic Reading Test