Food for thought 2 - IELTS Reading answers

The Academic passage ‘Food for Thought’ is a reading passage with various question types, each of which are asked in the IELTS Reading exam. Try to find the answers to get an idea of the difficulty level of the passages in the actual reading test. If you want more passages to solve, try taking one of our IELTS reading practice tests.

Reading Passage

Food for thought

Questions 1-7

List of Headings

i. Why better food helps students’ learning
ii. A song for getting porridge
iii. Surprising use of school premises
iv. Global perspective
v. Brains can be starved
vi. Surprising academics outcome
vii. Girls are specially treated in the program
viii. How the food program is operated
ix. How food program affects school attendance
x. None of the usual reasons
xi. How to maintain an academic standard

1 Paragraph A

2 Paragraph B

3 Paragraph C

4 Paragraph D

5 Paragraph E

6 Paragraph F

7 Paragraph G

Questions 8-11

8 ………………….. are exclusively offered to girls in the feeding program.

9 Instead of going to school, many children in poverty are sent to collect ……………………. in the fields.

10 The pass rate as Msekeni has risen to …………………….. with the help of the feeding programme.

11 Since the industrial revolution, the size of the modern human has grown by …………………….

Questions 12-13

Which TWO of the following statements are true?

A Some children are taught in the open air.

B Malawi has trouble feeding its large population.

C No new staff were recruited when attendance rose.

D Girls enjoy a higher status than boys in the family

E Boys and girls experience the same improvement in the pass rate.

F WHO has cooperated with WFP to provide grain to the school at Msekeni.

Reading Answer

1 Answer: iii

Question type: Matching Heading

Answer location: Paragraph A

Answer explanation: Paragraph A illustrates that there are not enough classrooms at the Msekeni primary school, so half the lessons take place in the shade of yellow-blossomed acacia trees. Given this shortage, it might seem odd that one of the school’s purpose-built classrooms has been emptied of pupils and turned into a storeroom for sacks of grain. But it makes sense. Food matters more than shelter. These lines illustrate the surprising use of school premises. That is, we can deduce from these lines that since there are not enough classrooms, half the lessons are held in the shade of yellow blossomed acacia trees. Further, the school’s purpose-built classrooms have been emptied of pupils and transformed into a storeroom for sacks of grain. Thus, it’s clear that food matters more than shelter. Hence, the answer is iii.

2 Answer: x

Question type: Matching Heading

Answer location: Paragraph B

Answer explanation: Paragraph B reveals Msekeni, as one of the poorer parts of Malawi, a landlocked southern African country of exceptional beauty and great poverty. No war lays waste to Malawi, nor is the land unusually crowded or infertile, but Malawians still have trouble finding enough to eat. Half of the children under five are underfed to the point of stunting. Hunger blights most aspects of Malawian life, so the country is as good a place as any to investigate how nutrition affects development, and vice versa. These are some of the unusual reasons for Mskeni to be one of the poorer parts of Malawi. Thus, the answer is x.

3 Answer: viii

Question type: Matching Heading

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 4

Answer explanation: In the 4th line of paragraph C, it is mentioned that donors such as the World Food Programme (WFP) provide the food: those sacks of grain (mostly mixed maize and soya bean flour, enriched with vitamin A) in that converted classroom. Local volunteers do the cooking – turning the dry ingredients into a bland but nutritious slop and spooning it out onto plastic plates. The children line up in large crowds, cheerfully singing a song called “We are getting porridge”. These lines reveal how the food program is operated. Thus, the answer is viii.

4 Answer: ix

Question type: Matching Heading

Answer location: Paragraph D

Answer explanation: Paragraph D states, “When the school’s feeding program was introduced, enrolment at Msekeni doubled. Some of the new pupils had switched from nearby schools that did not give out free porridge, but most were children whose families had previously kept them at home to work.” We can understand from these lines how the food program affects school attendance. Thus, the answer is ix.

5 Answer: vi

Question type: Matching Heading

Answer location: Paragraph E

Answer explanation: Paragraph E states that when a school takes in a horde of extra students from the poorest homes, you would expect standards to drop. Anywhere in the world, poor kids tend to perform worse than their better-off classmates. When the influx of new pupils is not accompanied by an increase in the number of teachers, as was the case at Msekeni, you would expect standards to fall even further. But they have not. Pass rates at Msekeni improved dramatically, from 30% to 85%. These lines suggest the surprising academic outcome of the students at Msekni schools. Hence, the answer is vi.

6 Answer: i

Question type: Matching Heading

Answer location: Paragraph F

Answer explanation: In the introductory lines of paragraph F, it is mentioned that Better nutrition makes for brighter children. Most immediately, well-fed children find it easier to concentrate. It is hard to focus the mind on long division when your stomach is screaming for food. Mr. Kumanda says that it used to be easy to spot the undernourished kids. It is evident from these lines why better food helps students’ learning. Hence, the answer is i.

7 Answer: iv

Question type: Matching Heading

Answer location: Paragraph G

Answer explanation: Paragraph G illustrates that On a global scale, the good news is that people are eating better than ever before. Homo sapiens has grown 50% bigger since the industrial revolution. Three centuries ago, chronic malnutrition was more or less universal. Now, it is extremely rare in rich countries. In developing countries, where most people live, plates and rice bowls are also fuller than ever before. The proportion of children under five in the developing world who are malnourished to the point of stunting fell from 39% in 1990 to 30% in 2000, says the World Health Organisation (WHO). These lines reveal the global perspective. Hence, the answer is iv.

8 Answer: extra snacks

Question type: Sentence Completion

Answer location: Paragraph D, last line

Answer explanation: The last line of paragraph D states that Girls, who are more likely than boys to be kept out of school, are given extra snacks to take home, which means that extra snacks are exclusively offered to girls in the feeding programme. Thus, the answer is extra snacks.

9 Answer: firewood

Question type: Sentence Completion

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 3

Answer explanation: The 3rd line of paragraph D states that these families were so poor that the long-term benefits of education seemed unattractive when set against the short-term gain of sending children out to gather firewood or help in the fields. It is evident from these lines that instead of going to school, many children in poverty are sent to collect firewood in the fields. Hence, the answer is firewood.

10 Answer: 85%

Question type: Sentence Completion

Answer location: Paragraph E, line 4

Answer explanation: In the 4th line of paragraph E, it is mentioned that the pass rates at Msekeni improved dramatically, from 30% to 85%. These lines indicate that the passing rates as Msekeni have risen to 85% with the help of the feeding programme. Hence, the answer is 85%.

11 Answer: 50%

Question type: Sentence Completion

Answer location: Paragraph G

Answer explanation: The introductory lines of paragraph G states that on a global scale, the good news is that people are eating better than ever before. Homo sapiens has grown 50% bigger since the industrial revolution. These lines indicate that since the industrial revolution, the size of the modern human population has increased by 50%. Thus, the answer is 50%.

12 Answer: A

Question type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph A

Answer explanation: Paragraph A states that there are not enough classrooms at the Msekeni primary school, so half the lessons take place in the shade of yellow-blossomed acacia trees. These lines indicate that some children are taught in the open air. So, the answer is A.

13 Answer: C

Question type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph E

Answer explanation: Paragraph E states that when the influx of new pupils is not accompanied by an increase in the number of teachers, as was the case at Msekeni, you would expect standards to fall even further. But they have not. These lines suggest that despite the large number of students being enrolled, the number of teachers remained the same as no new teachers were recruited. Thus, the answer is C.

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