Reintroducing elms to Britain: reading answers and analysis
Dutch elm disease killed around 25 million British elms in the 1960s and '70s after infected Canadian logs brought a more aggressive fungus. Small elms survive in hedgerows until they're big enough for the beetle, while a few mature trees and Brighton's windy coast have escaped. Scientists test resistant hybrids, but the Woodland Trust would rather give surviving elms time.
Questions 14-26 · 13 marks · 3 question blocks
Where the answers sit
Section matching (14-18) uses C twice, once for the research problem and once for the size at which young elms get attacked. The people matching (19-23) spans the whole text. The summary (24-26) is entirely in D.
Questions 14-18
C holds two items, so keep it in play. B explains how the disease arrived (logs shipped from Canada for boat building). E explains why Brighton escaped (sea winds). G is the only section where two people disagree about replanting.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | C | — |
| 15 | G | — |
| 16 | B | — |
| 17 | E | — |
| 18 | C | — |
Questions 19-23
Russell and Elliot each answer twice. Russell gives the scientific view: resistance tests show results within weeks, and survivors can't just be lucky. Elliot gives the conservation view: old photos show what was lost, and nature should be given time. Bourne's only line here is the warning that the beetles are close.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | B | — |
| 20 | A | — |
| 21 | B | — |
| 22 | C | — |
| 23 | A | — |
Questions 24-26
D reads in the same order as the summary. The first gap needs the one tree preferred over elm, the second the 18th-century use paired with crates, and the third the part of the Cutty Sark built from elm.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | oak | — |
| 25 | flooring | — |
| 26 | keel | — |
The questions most people get wrong
C again. Young elms become vulnerable once the trunk reaches 10-15 cm across. It sits in the same section as the question 14 answer, so people who cross letters off miss it.
A (Elliot). Waiting and giving survivors time sounds cautious and scientific, but it's the Woodland Trust's position in G, not Russell's.
Write 'flooring'. 'Storage crates' is paraphrased as 'boxes' in the summary, so the other item is the answer.
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