The IELTS reading answers are an essential part of the Reading Section of the IELTS exam. If you are doing IELTS preparation, you must go thoroughly through the passage on a bad image not justified IELTS reading answers. Also, practice getting answers to the questions from the passage.
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A Bad Image Not Justified IELTS Reading Answers
IELTS Reading Answers Part One
‘Flies are a nuisance, wasps are a pest…’ as the children’s rhyme goes. Indeed, local council environmental health departments everywhere recognize them as such. A wasps’ nest in the vicinity of your home certainly causes concern. But all creatures have a function in life: flies do serve a useful purpose: they help – dispose of waste matter and feed other animals higher up the food chain.
And wasps? To most of us, they appear to possess no redeeming features whatsoever. Having been stung, the majority of people hate them and question their right to exist. As John Crompton points out in ‘The Hunting Wasp’, we generally tend to overreact to the presence of insects that are far more afraid of us, and whose only desire is to escape our company.
Nevertheless, their sting is at least a nuisance factor, and, in the case of allergy sufferers, a serious health hazard, but wasps do not attack without good (in their opinion) reason. Very often, we accidentally disturb them, only to pay the painful price.
Part Two
The problem is that two or three species give the rest a bad name. Vespula vulgaris and Vespula germanica, the Common and German wasps respectively, are attracted to our food and can ruin a picnic by challenging our every lick of ice cream, the bite of sandwich, and a sip of the drink.
Barbecues are another regular battlefield, as wasps love sucking the juices out of meat. They also frequent dustbins and other unhygienic places, and so can pose a health risk, albeit not as much as flies.
Another of their vices, often overlooked, is that they are fond of feeding mashed honeybee flesh to their young while gorging themselves on the honey. Apiarists loathe them, for their raids seriously disrupt the normal routine of the hives.
This is not a complete picture, however, and it is necessary to redress the balance in favour of our black and yellow chums, notwithstanding the downside of course!
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IELTS Reading Answers Part Three
Together with bees and ants, wasps form the insect order Hymenoptera and can be divided into two main categories: solitary and social. The former need not concern us here, as they cause us no problems.
They live alone or in small groups, and use their delicate sting exclusively to paralyze prey for their larvae to devour alive and fresh. They can also be employed in natural pest control operations.
Social wasps are so-called because they form large colonies of infertile female ‘workers’ ruled by a single queen. In Britain, apart from the species mentioned above, there are also the Tree, Norwegian, Saxon, Red, and Cuckoo wasps, plus the hornets, which rarely come into contact with us.
Part Four
There is also, of course, the dolichovespula media, or median Wasp. Since it first established itself in Kent in 1985, it has spread rapidly throughout the country, provoking the tabloid press to dub it every year the ‘French Killer Wasp’ or the ‘Euro Wasp’, blaming global warming for the superbug invasion! Indeed, it is larger than our native wasps, and its sting is more powerful, but it is no more aggressive, despite what one reads in the paper. It will not bother you if you leave it alone.
The point is that the sting of all social wasps is defensive, and will be used against anyone or thing perceived as a threat to themselves or their nest. Whatever is contained in that unlovely cocktail they inject is their secret recipe which scientists have still to analyze.
A Bad Image Not Justified IELTS Reading Answers Part Five
The life cycle of social wasps begins on a warm day in April, when queens emerge from hibernation and select a place for their nest, usually a hole in the ground, in a tree or in our attics lofts and under our eaves: The structure is made from chewed up wood mixed with saliva which forms a grey papery substance. The queen builds a dozen or so hexagonal cells and lays the first of up to thirty thousand eggs.
The grubs hatch and she feeds them until they pupate. When the new adults, or imaginations, appear about eight weeks later, the queen continues to lay eggs while her infertile daughters continue to build the expanding nest and feed the new larvae.
In August males and females hatch, bigger and more brightly coloured than the worker ‘caste’. Males, who have slightly longer antennae, are stingless and can be seen in autumn mating with the young queens and sipping nectar from ivy, the last plant in Britain to blossom.
As the weather gets colder and the flowers disappear, the males and the surviving workers die. The old queen perishes too, together with the last remaining untended grubs.
Heavy November rains finally destroy the nest, although in milder climatic conditions colonies are known to last much longer. Having fed well to build up their fat reserves for the long hard winter to come, the impregnated queens seek out a suitably sheltered spot for hibernation, such as under a fold of bark.
Part Six
We must ask those who would be rid of wasps what the world would be like without them. Quite simply, there would be far fewer flowers and much less fruit, and also many more flies, mosquitoes, and other bugs, for they pollinate the former and favor the latter as baby food. So perhaps we should be thankful for these services, even though they come at a slight cost.
If we leave wasps alone, they will not hurt us. Just as we treat bees with caution and respect, we should deal with wasps. They are fascinating creatures, which really do have the right to exist as part of our ecosystem, and besides being attractive, are actually beneficial in more ways than one.
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Question Number 1
Following are a few statements given from the passage above. You have to check the answers from the passage and write them correctly.
#1. ___________help in the disposing of waste matter and feeding other animals higher up the food chain.
Answer: Flies
#2. _____________ queens seek out a suitably sheltered spot for hibernation, such as under a fold of bark.
Answer: Impregnated
#3. Heavy ___________ rains finally destroy the nest, although in milder climatic conditions colonies are known to last much longer.
Answer: November
#4. ______________ and vespula germanica are the common German wasps.
Answer: Vespula vulgaris
#5. In ____________ males and females hatch, bigger and more brightly coloured than the worker ‘caste’.
Answer: August
Question Number 2
Look at the statements below and after reading them, write TRUE or FALSE in front of them.
TRUE – If the statement agrees with the information that is given above in the passage.
FALSE – If the statement disagrees with the information that is given above in the passage.
#1. The life cycle of social wasps begins on a warm day in October.
Answer: FALSE
#2. The structure is made from chewed-up wood mixed with saliva which forms a gray papery substance.
Answer: TRUE
#3. Median Wasp first established itself in Kent in 1985.
Answer: TRUE
#4. Wasps are fascinating creatures, which really do have the right to exist as part of our ecosystem
Answer: TRUE
#5. The king builds a dozen or so hexagonal cells and lays the first of up to Nine thousand eggs.
Answer: FALSE
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Conclusion
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