Secrets of The Forest Reading Answers

1.

Answer: v

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 1

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line and states that in 1942, Allan R Holmberg, has ventured deep into the jungle of Bolivian Amazonia and searched out an isolated band of Siriono Indians. So, you can understand that the word ‘Amazonian’ has been mentioned in relation to ‘searched out’  which is paraphrased as revealed. 

2.

Answer: i

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 4

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph. The phrase in the said line that ‘Amazonia could not – and cannot – sustain a more complex society’ supports the fact that Amazonia is unable to sustain complex societies.

3.

Answer:vi

Question type: Matching Headings

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 4

Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. The last line of the paragraph acquaints us with the fact that the natural history of Amazonia is tied to the activities of its prehistoric inhabitants, where ‘tied to’ can be paraphrased as ‘influenced by’.

4.

Answer:Yes

Question type:Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 4

Answer explanation:  Paragraph B explains that the ‘apparent simplicity of Indian ways of life’ has been judged to be an evolutionary adaptation to forest ecology by observers, scientists and planners. But, it is a living proof that ‘Amazonia could not – and cannot – sustain a more complex society’ which means that they were unable to support a more complex society. As the statement agrees with the views of the writer, the answer is ‘YES’. 

5.

Answer:Yes

Question type: Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph C, lines 1-2

Answer explanation: The lines in the said section points out that the popular conception of Amazonia and its native residents would be enormously consequential if it were true. But the ‘human history of Amazonia’ in the past 11,000 years ‘betrays that view as myth’ that is it is a crucial popular misconception about the accepted idea. As the statement agrees with the views of the writer, the answer is ‘YES’.

6.

Answer:Not Given

Question type:Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph D 

Answer explanation: The only reference to ecosystems in the whole passage is in part D where it is given that ecologists have assumed that tropical ecosystems were shaped entirely by natural forces and they have focused their research on habitats they believe have escaped human influence. As this is not related to the statement, the answer is ‘NOT GIVEN.

7.

Answer:No

Question type:Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph D, lines 1-2

Answer explanation: The said paragraph declares that the evidence for a revised ‘view of Amazonia’ will surprise many people as ‘ecologists’ have actually assumed that tropical ecosystems were ‘shaped entirely by natural forces’ and not by human settlement. But, in reality, it was just their assumption and not facts or evidence-based knowledge of these ecologists. As the statement contradicts the views of the writer, the answer is ‘NO’.

8.

Answer:Yes

Question type:Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 2

Answer explanation: The said portion mentions that in the clash between environmentalists and developers, the ‘Indians, whose presence is crucial to the survival of the forest’, that is, indigenous Amazonian Indians who are necessary to the well-being of the forest have suffered the most. As the statement agrees with the views of the writer, the answer is ‘YES’.

9.

Answer: Yes

Question type:Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph F, lines 3-4

Answer explanation: The said lines give a new understanding of the pre-history of ‘Amazonia’ that points toward a middle ground. Archaeology makes clear that with judicious management ‘selected parts of the region’ (certain parts of Amazonia) could ‘support more people’ (support a higher population) than anyone thought before. Here, ‘selected parts of the region’ has been paraphrased as ‘certain parts of Amazonia’ and ‘support more people’ as ‘support a higher population’. So, as the statement agrees with the views of the writer, the answer is ‘YES’.

10.

Answer:C

Question type:Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph A, lines 1-2

Answer explanation: The first two lines of the first paragraph reveals that in ‘1942 Allan R Holmberg, a doctoral student in anthropology’ from Yale University, USA, ventured deep into the jungle of Bolivian Amazonia and searched out an isolated band of Siriono Indians. The ‘Siriono’, Holmberg later wrote, led ‘a “strikingly backward” existence’ which means that they had an extremely primitive way of living or society. Hence, the answer is C (were an extremely primitive society).

11.

Answer:B

Question type:Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 5

Answer explanation: The mentioned portion points out that archaeological traces of ‘more elaborate cultures’ have been disregarded as the ‘ruins of invaders from outside the region’ that has been abandoned to decay in the uncompromising tropical environment. Here, ‘more elaborate cultures’ can be summarized as ‘settlements’ and ‘ruins’ as remains. Hence, the answer is B.

12.

Answer:B

Question type:Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph D, lines 2-3

Answer explanation: The said lines of Paragraph D states that the ‘ecologists have assumed’ that ‘tropical ecosystems’ were ‘shaped entirely by natural forces’. But as the University of Florida ‘ecologist, Peter Feinsinger’, has noted, an approach that leaves people out of the equation ‘is no longer tenable’. Here, ‘ecologists have assumed’ has been paraphrased as ‘assumptions of ecologists’ and ‘shaped entirely by natural forces’ as ‘created solely by natural forces’. As Peter Feinsinger, through his recent research, has proved the the assumption wrong, the answer is B. 

13.

Answer: C

Question type:Multiple Choice Questions

Answer location: Paragraph F, lines 3-4 

Answer explanation: Paragraph F mentions that the major casualty of the “naturalism” of environmental scientists has been the indigenous Amazonians, whose habits of hunting, fishing, and slash-and-burn cultivation often have been represented as harmful to the habitat (previous understanding). But, the ‘new understanding of the pre-history of Amazonia’ or new insights into the Amazonian past points toward a middle ground. The ‘judicious management selected parts of the region’ that is, the application of new insights ‘could support more people than anyone thought before’ which could bring change in present policies on development. Hence, the answer is C.