¡Hola!
Bienvenidos a una nueva publicación del blog de Blue Parrot School, donde, regularmente, ofrecemos consejos y materiales que te echen una mano a la hora de aprender el idioma que te hayas propuesto estudiar.
Hoy vamos a dirigirnos, de nuevo, a todos los que estáis preparando el APTIS o estáis pensando en hacerlo próximamente. Si ya vimos en el post anterior ejercicios para practicar la parte de gramática del APTIS, hoy nuestro equipo de profesores nativos o bilingüe certificados te trae material para que practiques otra de las partes de que se compone el examen de APTIS: la cuarta parte, el Reading de APTIS.
En este ejercicio tendrás que leer un artículo consistente en siete párrafos sobre los peligros que amenazan la fauna silvestre. En cada uno de los párrafos tendrás que elegir un encabezado de entre las ocho opciones que se te ofrecen (es decir, una sobra). Para descubrir la respuesta, lo único que debes hacer es hacer click en el cuadro. A partir de ahora, te ofrecemos el ejercicio en sí, siempre en inglés, para que la inmersión sea total. ¡Buena suerte!
ADVERTENCIA: Para el ejercicio se recomienda un nivel B1-B2.
Part 4: Long text reading comprehension
Dangers Facing Wildlife Today
You will read an article consisting of seven paragraphs. But you are given eight headings. Your task is to match seven of the headings to the seven paragraphs in the text.
| A) Climate Change | E) Habitat Destruction |
| B) Illegal Wildlife Trade | F) Pollution |
| C) Disease in Animals | G) Humans are to Blame |
| D) Overfishing | H) Invasive Species |
First paragraph
It is no secret that we are to blame for problems facing wildlife. Human activities have caused the world’s wildlife populations to decrease by more than two thirds in the last 50 years.
Expanding human demands on land, sea and fresh water, along with the impacts of climate change, have made the conservation and management of wild areas and wild animals a top priority. Human involvement is the leading problem facing animals and, in this article, we will discuss the biggest dangers animals have today.
Second paragraph
Probably one of the biggest challenges wild animals face for survival is directly related our climate emergency crisis and global warming. More frequent and intense drought, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans can directly harm animals.
The cheetah is an example of an animal which is rapidly declining due to earth’s rising temperatures. These changes have affected what smaller animals can catch to eat and has even affected this big cat’s ability to reproduce.
Third paragraph
70% of land animals and plant species live in forests. When trees are cut down, animal’s homes are damaged or destroyed to such an extent that it no longer is capable of supporting the species and ecological communities that naturally occur there.
In Asia alone, the list includes orangutans, tigers, rhinos and elephants, some of which are about to go extinct. Not only does deforestation endanger plants and animals, but we are still not sure how seriously this type of destruction may affect us in the future.
Fourth paragraph
It’s not just humans that have to deal with epidemics. Wild animals must face a host of illnesses, from Ebola to cancer and even the plague which can kill thousands of animals very quickly.
Animal illnesses are always particularly concerning if the animals are rare, threatened or a fragmented species.
White-nose syndrome has been killing bats for the last decade, with more than 5.7 million dead in the eastern half of North America from this sickness. The cause is a fungus that grows on the nose, mouth and wings of bats during hibernation. The fungus causes dehydration and causes the bats to wake up frequently and burn their stored fat reserves, which are supposed to last through the winter. The result is starvation.
Fifth paragraph
Did you know that there are 500 times more of pieces of microplastic in the sea than there are stars in our galaxy?
Marine wildlife eats and get trapped in plastic floating in the sea. It destroys and devastates their environments. And because plastic degrades to microscopic levels, fish absorb through their stomachs and into their flesh, meaning that humans also end up eating their own plastic waste.
Scientists have also discovered impurities in our ozone which are most detrimental to the small migratory birds. This directly harms birds by damaging their respiratory systems, and indirectly harms their food sources.
Sixth paragraph
Organisms can cause ecological or economic harm in a new environment where it is not native. European green crabs arrived by boat on the eastern shores of North America in the early 1800s. They found their way to the continent’s western shores by the 1980s, and they’ve caused trouble in every new ecosystem they invade.
Although the spread of some species can sometimes have beneficial aspects, species which are “non-native” affect the invaded habitats and, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage.
Seventh paragraph
We all know about many situations of how animals are mistreated, such as poaching of elephants for ivory and tigers for their skins and bones. But what about the unlawful trafficking and sale of other animals?
Birds in the Amazon rainforest are prime targets for animal traffickers. Some birds are sold live, while others are killed to supply feathers, skins and other body-parts. Eggs are also traded. Reptiles are highly valued for their skins. Crocodile, snakes and lizard skins are used for shoes, handbags, clothes, suitcases, belts, etc.
To help solve this dilemma, send emails, sign petitions and speak up for animals who can’t speak for themselves. The more people speaking, the better governments, business leaders and other decision-makers will listen.
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¿Qué te ha parecido? ¿Lo has encontrado útil? Si necesitas ayuda para practicar de cara al APTIS, en cualquiera de las áreas del examen (speaking, writing, listening, reading), en Blue Parrot School tenemos un intensivo online de 28h por el que ya han pasado miles de alumnos, con un éxito sorprendente, en el nivel que se habían propuesto o incluso, con frecuencia, uno superior (esa cara de alegría cuando se saca el C1 cuando se buscaba un B2). ¿Te animas?
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