Bring back the big cats: reading answers and analysis
New bone finds suggest the lynx survived in Britain about 5,000 years longer than anyone thought. The writer uses it to argue for rewilding: restoring ecosystems and bringing back predators, which drive life through the food chain. The lynx would control deer, threaten no one and fit with new forests, as it already has across Europe.
All three blocks follow passage order. The multiple choice (14-18) covers the first six paragraphs. The summary (19-22) is in the lynx paragraph, and the YES / NO / NOT GIVEN claims (23-26) come from the European comparison near the end.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the passage yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
How to attack this block: Each question points to a paragraph, so go there and find the writer's main point. Several distractors use real words from the passage but bend the meaning. In the conservation question, decide whether the writer is criticising the method or its results.
Question 14
Answer: DParagraph 1, second half
What did the 2006 bone find show about the lynx?
Until this discovery, the lynx… was presumed to have died out in Britain at least 6,000 years ago
Question says → Passage says
It survived in Britain longer than was previously thoughtwas presumed to have died out… at least 6,000 years ago / bring forward the tassel-eared cat's estimated extinction date by roughly 5,000 years
Why: People thought the lynx died out at least 6,000 years ago, but the bone dates from around 598 AD. That moves its extinction about 5,000 years closer to us, so it survived longer than thought: D.
The trap: C uses the old belief ('several thousand years ago') that the discovery overturned. B mentions farming, but the passage only says the old extinction date came before farming, not that farming caused it.
Question 15
Answer: AParagraph 3, last three sentences
What does the writer say about large predators in the third paragraph?
Some of them drive dynamic processes that resonate through the whole food chain, creating niches for hundreds of species that might otherwise struggle to survive.
Question says → Passage says
Their presence can increase biodiversitycreating niches for hundreds of species / The killers turn out to be bringers of life
Why: Predators create room for hundreds of other species, which is more biodiversity. The punchline 'the killers turn out to be bringers of life' says the same: A.
The trap: C borrows the idea that ecosystems 'behave in completely different ways' with and without predators. But it's the ecosystems that behave differently, not the predators.
Question 16
Answer: CParagraph 4, first two sentences
What does the writer suggest about British conservation in the fourth paragraph?
It has tried to preserve the living world as if it were a jar of pickles, letting nothing in and nothing out, keeping nature in a state of arrested development.
Question says → Passage says
a misguided approachselected arbitrary assemblages of plants and animals / as if it were a jar of pickles
Why: The writer criticises the method itself: choosing arbitrary groups of species and freezing them like pickles in a jar, when ecosystems depend on change. That's a misguided approach: C.
The trap: A is tempting because the last paragraph says the preservation-jar model 'is failing'. But this question is about the fourth paragraph, where the writer attacks the approach, not its results. B (beginning to change) also comes from the last paragraph.
Question 17
Answer: AParagraph 5, second sentence
What would protecting big areas of sea from fishing lead to?
This policy would also greatly boost catches in the surrounding seas
Question says → Passage says
practical benefits for the fishing industrygreatly boost catches in the surrounding seas
Why: Protected areas act as breeding reserves, so catches in the seas around them would grow. Bigger catches are a practical benefit to the fishing industry: A.
The trap: C (opposition from the industry) picks up on the writer's criticism of the industry's 'insistence on scouring every inch of seabed'. That's what it does now, not how it would react.
Question 18
Answer: CParagraph 6
What makes rewilding different from other green campaigns, according to the writer?
campaigners articulate what they are for rather than only what they are against… it helps to create a more inspiring vision
Question says → Passage says
Its positive messagewhat they are for rather than only what they are against
more appealinga more inspiring vision / the enthusiasm for rewilding is spreading so quickly
Why: Rewilding says what it wants, not just what it opposes, and that creates a more inspiring vision than the usual green message. Positive and appealing: C.
The trap: B uses 'articulate' from the passage, but there it's a verb meaning 'express'. The writer never says rewilding supporters speak better than others.
Summary completion (word list A-F)
Questions 19-22
How to attack this block: All four gaps come from one paragraph. The list has near-pairs, 'wild animals' and 'farm animals', 'trees' and 'hillsides', so match the exact category the passage uses. One gap is about people, one about deer, one about sheep and livestock, and one about forests.
Question 19
Answer: EParagraph 7, first sentence
Who has the lynx never been known to endanger?
The lynx presents no threat to human beings: there is no known instance of one preying on people.
Question says → Passage says
there is no evidencethere is no known instance
put ___ in dangerpresents no threat to
Why: No lynx has ever been known to prey on people. 'Human beings' is E, humans.
The trap: F (farm animals) is the other group the paragraph says is safe. But that's 'little risk', provided they're kept out of the woods, which is the third gap.
Question 20
Answer: DParagraph 7, second and third sentences
Which group has grown enormously and would be reduced by the lynx?
It is a specialist predator of roe deer, a species that has exploded in Britain in recent decades
Question says → Passage says
reduce the numbers ofa specialist predator of
populations have increased enormously in recent decadeshas exploded in Britain in recent decades
Why: The lynx hunts roe deer and sika deer, wild animals whose numbers have exploded. The plural 'certain ___' fits 'wild animals': D.
The trap: B (endangered species) is the opposite of what the deer are: they've exploded in number, not declined.
Question 21
Answer: FParagraph 7, last sentence
What would the lynx pose only a small risk to, if kept apart?
presents little risk to sheep and other livestock, which are supposed, as a condition of farm subsidies, to be kept out of the woods
Question says → Passage says
only a minimal threatlittle risk
provided these were kept away from lynx habitatsto be kept out of the woods
Why: Sheep and other livestock are farm animals, and the risk is small because they should be kept out of the woods where the lynx lives: F.
The trap: E (humans) is also safe, but the condition 'provided these were kept away' only applies to livestock.
Question 22
Answer: AParagraph 7, fifth sentence
What would reintroducing the lynx fit well with bringing back?
The attempt to reintroduce this predator marries well with the aim of bringing forests back to parts of our bare and barren uplands.
Question says → Passage says
link efficiently withmarries well with
return native ___ to certain areasbringing forests back to parts of our bare and barren uplands
Why: 'Marries well with' means fits neatly with, and the aim is bringing forests back. Forests are trees, so A.
The trap: C (hillsides) is tempting because forests return to the 'uplands'. But the hills are where the trees go, not what is being returned.
YES / NO / NOT GIVEN
Questions 23-26
How to attack this block: These come from the paragraph comparing Britain with Europe. Britain is described as lagging behind, which settles one statement. Another gives a real figure, but nobody's expectations are mentioned. The last two match reasons the lynx has spread.
Question 23
Answer: NOParagraph 8, middle and last sentence
Could Britain be the first country in Europe to bring back the lynx?
The lynx has now been reintroduced to the Jura Mountains, the Alps, the Vosges in eastern France and the Harz mountains in Germany
Question says → Passage says
the first European country to reintroduce the lynxLarge-scale rewilding is happening almost everywhere - except Britain
Why: The lynx has already been reintroduced in France, Germany and the Alps, so Britain can't be first. The writer even says Britain is the exception. NO.
The trap: The writer is excited about the lynx coming back to the Cairngorms, which can make this feel like a first. Read on: other countries did it long ago.
Question 24
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph 8, middle
Has Europe's lynx growth since 1970 been bigger than conservationists expected?
The European population has tripled since 1970 to roughly 10,000.
Question says → Passage says
The large growth in the European lynx population since 1970The European population has tripled since 1970
Why: The passage gives the growth, a tripling to about 10,000, but never says what anyone expected. Without an expectation, there's nothing to compare. NOT GIVEN.
The trap: Tripling sounds impressive, so it's easy to assume it beat expectations. That's your judgement, not the writer's claim.
Question 25
Answer: YESParagraph 8, second-last sentence
Have changes in farming opened up more habitat for the lynx in Europe?
the lynx has been able to spread as farming has left the hills
Question says → Passage says
Changes in agricultural practicesfarming has left the hills
extended the habitathas been able to spread
Why: As farming moved out of the hills, the lynx was able to spread into them. That's a change in farming extending its habitat: YES.
Question 26
Answer: YESParagraph 8, second-last sentence
Has it become clear that bringing species back can make money?
people discover that it is more lucrative to protect charismatic wildlife than to hunt it, as tourists will pay for the chance to see it
Question says → Passage says
It has become apparentpeople discover
commercial advantagesmore lucrative / tourists will pay for the chance to see it
Why: 'Lucrative' means profitable, and tourists pay to see the animals. People are discovering this, which is 'it has become apparent'. YES.
The trap: The sentence talks about protecting wildlife rather than reintroducing it, so some students hesitate. It's part of the explanation for how reintroduced species have spread, so it fits.
Deer are wild animals, so D. 'Endangered species' is wrong, because roe deer have exploded in number.
Words from this passage worth keeping
compelling evidence(Paragraph 1)
evidence that is very convincing
denuded(Paragraph 3)
stripped bare of trees or plants
arbitrary(Paragraph 4)
chosen without a good reason
arrested development(Paragraph 4)
a state where growth or change has been stopped
articulate(Paragraph 6)
express clearly in words
marries well with(Paragraph 7)
fits well together with
lucrative(Paragraph 8)
producing a lot of money
catalyse(Paragraph 9)
cause or speed up a process
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The full Cambridge 12 Test 8 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 12, Test 8, Reading Passage 2. The passage and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full text, or sit the test on Langujet.
