Manatees: reading answers and analysis
A field guide to manatees: how they differ from dugongs, their six-bone neck, touch-sensitive hairs, grass-grinding teeth and hand-like lips, and how they control buoyancy. It then covers where the West Indian, African and Amazonian species live and why all three are at risk, from hunting and fishing nets to boat strikes in Florida.
Questions 1-13 · 13 marks · 2 question blocks
Where the answers sit
The notes (1-6) cover the body and habits paragraphs, A to D, in order. The TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN statements (7-13) cover the species and threats paragraphs, E and F, also in order.
Questions 1-6
Each note heading matches one paragraph: appearance A, movement B, feeding C, breathing D. The answers are concrete body parts or plants, except the last, which is the abstract noun for floating and sinking. The passage says 'some hairs', so 'hair' and 'hairs' both work.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | tail | — |
| 2 | flippers | — |
| 3 | hair | hairs |
| 4 | seagrasses | — |
| 5 | lips | — |
| 6 | buoyancy | — |
Questions 7-13
Three NOT GIVENs take a real fact and add something extra: a temperature comparison between two subspecies, when the Amazonian losses became known, and whether net and plastic cases rose over the period. The one FALSE says the African manatee stays on the coast, but the passage places it in rivers as far inland as Mali and Niger.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | TRUE | — |
| 8 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 9 | FALSE | — |
| 10 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 11 | TRUE | — |
| 12 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 13 | TRUE | — |
The questions most people get wrong
FALSE. The coastline is Mauritania to Angola, but the passage adds that the species uses rivers and has been seen in landlocked countries, so its range isn't limited to the coast.
NOT GIVEN. The review counts cases from 2009-2020 (700 of about 1,800 involved manatees) but never says whether the risk rose.
The manatee turns its whole body and steers with its flippers. 'Tail' is already the answer to question 1, and here it's for propulsion, not turning.
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The full Cambridge 20 Test 2 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 20, Test 2, Reading Passage 1. The passage name belongs to Cambridge University Press. No passage text or question wording is reproduced on this page. The answers are published for self-marking, and the analysis is our own.