Secrets of the Forest
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 13 – 25 which
are based on Reading Passage 2 on the following pages.
Questions
13 – 15
Reading
Passage 2 has six sections A – F.
Choose the
most suitable headings for sections A, B and D from the
list of headings below.
Write the
appropriate numbers i-vii in boxes 13 – 15 on your answer sheet.
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List of Headings i Amazonia as unable to
sustain complex societies ii The role of recent technology in ecological
research in Amazonia iii The hostility of the indigenous population to
North American influences iv Recent evidence v Early research among the Indian Amazons vi The influence of prehistoric inhabitants on
Amazonian natural history vii The great difficulty of changing local attitudes and practices |
14 Section B
Example Answer
Paragraph C iv
15 Section D
Secrets of the Forest
A 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. Their villages were little more than clusters of thatched huts. Life
itself was a perpetual and punishing search for food: some families grew manioc
and other starchy crops in small garden plots cleared from the forest,
while other members of the tribe scoured the country for small game and
promising fish holes. When local resources became depleted, the tribe moved on.
As for technology, Holmberg noted, the Siriono "may be classified among
the most handicapped peoples of the world". Other than bows, arrows and
crude digging sticks, the only tools the Siriono seemed to possess were
"two machetes worn to the size of pocketknives".
B Although the lives of the Siriono
have changed in the intervening decades, the image of them as Stone Age relics
has endured. Indeed, in many respects the Siriono epitomize the popular conception
of life in Amazonia. To casual observers, as well as to influential natural
scientists and regional planners, the luxuriant forests of Amazonia seem
ageless, unconquerable, a habitat totally hostile to human civilization. The
apparent simplicity of Indian ways of life has been judged an evolutionary
adaptation to forest ecology, living proof that Amazonia could not - and cannot
- sustain a more complex society. Archaeological traces of far more elaborate cultures
have been dismissed as the ruins of invaders from outside the region, abandoned
to decay in the uncompromising tropical environment.
C 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. Evidence gathered in recent years from anthropology and archaeology
indicates that the region has supported a series of indigenous cultures for
eleven thousand years; an extensive network of complex societies - some with
populations perhaps as large as 100,000 - thrived there for more than 1,000
years before the arrival of Europeans. (Indeed, some contemporary tribes,
including the Siriono, still live among the earthworks of earlier cultures.)
Far from being evolutionarily retarded, prehistoric Amazonian people developed
technologies and cultures that were advanced for their time. If the lives of
Indians today seem "primitive", the appearance is not the result of
some environmental adaptation or ecological barrier; rather it is a
comparatively recent adaptation to centuries of economic and political
pressure. Investigators who argue otherwise have unwittingly projected the
present onto the past.
D The evidence for a revised view of
Amazonia will take many people by surprise. 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.
But as the University of Florida ecologist, Peter Feinsinger, has noted, an
approach that leaves people out of the equation is no longer tenable. The
archaeological evidence shows that the natural history of Amazonia is to a
surprising extent tied to the activities of its prehistoric inhabitants.
E The realization comes none too soon.
In June 1992 political and environmental leaders from across the world met in
Rio de Janeiro to discuss how developing countries can advance their economies
without destroying their natural resources. The challenge is especially
difficult in Amazonia. Because the tropical forest has been depicted as
ecologically unfit for large-scale human occupation, some environmentalists
have opposed development of any kind. Ironically, one major casualty of that
extreme position has been the environment itself. While policy makers struggle
to define and implement appropriate legislation, development of the most
destructive kind has continued apace over vast areas.
F The other 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. In the clash between
environmentalists and developers, the Indians, whose presence is in fact
crucial to the survival of the forest, have suffered the most. The new
understanding of the pre-history of Amazonia, however, points toward a middle
ground. Archaeology makes clear that with judicious management selected parts
of the region could support more people than anyone thought before. The
long-buried past, it seems, offers hope for the future.
Questions
16 – 21
Do the
following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 16
– 21 on your answer sheet write
YES if
the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if
the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks
about this
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Example Answer |
16 The reason for the simplicity of the
Indian way of life is that Amazonia has always been unable to support a more
complex society.
17 There
is a crucial popular misconception about the human history of Amazonia.
18 There
are lessons to be learned from similar ecosystems in other parts of the world.
19 Most ecologists were aware that the
areas of Amazonia they were working in had been shaped by human settlement.
20 The
indigenous Amazonian Indians are necessary to the well-being of the forest.
21 It
would be possible for certain parts of Amazonia to support a higher population.
Questions 22 – 25
Choose the appropriate letters A – D and write them in
boxes 22 – 25 on your answer sheet.
22 In 1942 the US anthropology student concluded that the
Siriono
A were unusually aggressive and cruel.
B had had their way of life destroyed by invaders.
C were an extremely primitive society.
D had only recently made permanent settlements.
23 The author believes recent discoveries of the remains of
complex societies in Amazonia
A are evidence of early indigenous communities.
B are the remains of settlements by invaders.
C are the ruins of communities established since the
European invasions.
D show the region has only relatively recently been
covered by forest.
24 The assumption that the tropical ecosystem of Amazonia has
been created solely by natural forces
A has often been questioned by ecologists in the past.
B has been shown to be incorrect by recent research.
C was made by Peter Feinsinger and other ecologists.
D has led to some fruitful discoveries.
25 The application of our new insights into the Amazonian
past would
A warn us against allowing any development at all.
B cause further suffering to the Indian communities.
C change present policies on development in the region.
D reduce the amount of hunting, fishing, and ‘slash-and-burn’.
ANSWER KEY
13 v // Early research among the Indian Amazons
14 i // Amazonia as unable to sustain complex societies
15 vi // The influence of prehistoric inhabitants on Amazonian
natural history
16 NO // N
17 YES // Y
18 NOT GIVEN // NG
19 NO//N
20 YES // Y
21 YES // Y
22 C // were an extremely primitive society
23 A // are evidence of early indigenous communities
24 B // has been shown to be incorrect by recent research
25 C // change present policies on development in the
region.