Hi guys, this is Fiona from IELTS with Fiona and the Members Academy.
Now the reading I'm looking at today.
Believe it or not, I planned this reading to coincide with the first day of spring, which was March the 1st, and then, when I planned the lesson, I found the reading so difficult that I kept putting it off.
I waited till April the 1st and then May the 1st came, and I still haven't done a podcast on this.
I find it really difficult.
It's a passage 3 from academic book 16 and it's test 3, so it is a difficult reading.
I've even asked chat GPT to make a simplified version.
So do bear with me.
I am going to give you some hope that when you get a difficult text, the questions tend to be easier.
So I'm going to show you why I think that the questions are actually okay.
So the title is Plant Thermometer Triggers Springtime Growth by Measuring Nighttime Heat.
So we know it's something about plants and how they grow in response to the weather and heat, and they grow actually.
Give us a subtitle which explains that again.
I thought it might be useful here to talk about prefixes and how they can help you guess words.
So you probably know thermometer and what it is.
It measures heat.
So thermo means heat.
But the first line here is a photoreceptor molecule.
So, of course, you know, photograph and other words beginning with photo.
So I think it might help us guess some meanings here that photo means light.
So the first line says a photoreceptor molecule in plant cells.
So it's something in the plant cells which help the plants recognize light or react to light.
So we can guess that plants have these molecules, these cells.
We can guess, we know that plants react to light and heat, but according to this article, they've discovered that the thing which reacts to light actually changes at night time and then it reacts to heat.
Apparently, they didn't know this before.
So the first sentence says a photoreceptor molecule in plant cells has been found to have a second job as a thermometer after dark, allowing plants to read seasonal temperature changes.
I thought that was obvious, but maybe it wasn't.
I'm not a scientist.
What do I know?
I thought that plants reacted to heat as well as light.
Maybe we will learn more during the article.
Scientists say the discovery could help breed crops that are more resilient to the temperatures expected to result from climate change.
So some really good vocabulary coming up here.
Very typical IELTS vocabulary about crops and how do we make them resilient stronger, resistant and the problems we expect from climate change.
So that's the introduction, and paragraphs a and b seem to kind of say the same thing.
Basically they introduce an international team of scientists from cambridge university have discovered the thermometer molecule helps them develop according to seasonal temperature changes they've revealed that the molecules called phytochromes now again you don't need to know that word because they've told you that they are a kind of molecule.
But again for future reference, phyto p-h-y-t-o means plant And chrome means colour.
So we've got phytochromes.
That's what they're called and their molecules.
They are used by plants to detect light during the day.
They just told us that actually change their function in darkness to become temperature gauges that measure the heat of the night.
So we know this now.
And this.
It says.
The new findings show that these molecules control genetic switches in response to temperature as well as light to dictate plant development.
So I think there's no harm in hearing these words repeated again and again, because they help us remember them and they help us to understand them better.
So I am going to read a little bit.
You might think this is the same, but it's paraphrasing in a different way, saying the same thing in a different way.
So in paragraph b, again it says the same thing.
At night these molecules change states and they change the pace.
So the speed in proportion to temperature.
So they maybe speed up or slow down depending on the temperature, exactly like a thermometer, and the warmer it is, the faster the change, and this stimulates plant growth.
Again, this is kind of guessable.
And it even says that.
In paragraph C It says farmers and gardeners have known for hundreds of years that plants respond to temperature.
Warm winters cause trees and flowers to bud early.
Something humans have long used to predict weather and harvest times.
This is nothing new.
But the latest research pinpoints for the first time a mechanism in plants that reacts to temperature.
OK, so it's saying the same thing again.
Now, paragraph D says why this is important.
So it comes back to this idea of climate change and how plants might need to adapt.
ADAPT it says.
With weather and temperatures set to become more unpredictable due to climate change, researchers say the discovery could help us breed tougher crops, so stronger crops.
It is estimated that agricultural yields now this yield word comes comes up a lot in the topic of farming and agriculture.
So meaning how much the land produces.
And at the moment, we're not producing enough, it says.
Yields will need to double by 2050, to double.
But climate change is a major threat to achieving this.
This is important later on when we look at the questions.
We need it to double, but climate change might stop this.
Crops, key crops such as wheat and rice are sensitive to high temperatures.
Thermal stress.
Now we had that word from thermometer, thermal meaning heat.
Thermal stress reduces heat. crop yields by 10% for every one degree increase in temperature.
And so, according to Philip Wigg from Cambridge, discovering the molecules that allow plants to sense temperature has the potential to accelerate, to speed up the breeding of crops.
Resilient to another important word, resilient to thermal stress and climate change.
So again, a little repetition there.
They seem to keep saying the same thing in a different way.
Now, this is where the difficulty comes in when they explain the scientific process behind this.
So first of all in their active state these molecules restrict plant growth.
So that's what I found difficult that when they are active they actually slow down the growth.
So think about that.
During the day sunlight makes these molecules active.
But this slows down growth.
I thought sunlight made things grow, but actually sunlight activates these molecules which restrict and slow down the growth of the plant.
So an easy way they explain to understand this is if a plant is in the shade, away from sun, then these restrictions are inactivated.
So it helps the plant grow faster in order to find sunlight again.
Do you see what I mean?
I think that's tricky.
And this is how plants compete to escape each other's shade.
But at night, It's different.
So, instead of this rapid deactivation following sun down, the molecules change from active to inactive.
Now remember when they are active, they slow growth.
So when they are inactive, that means growth can happen.
And this is called dark reversion.
Just as mercury rises in a thermometer, the rate at which these phytochromes revert to their inactive state is a direct measure of temperature.
So it's like the speed at which they become inactive depends on the temperature and it can measure the temperature.
Paragraph F explains more the lower the temperature, the slower they become inactive.
So they spend more time in their active state suppressing growth.
So remember, while they are active they push down the growth.
Think of it like that.
They're actively pushing down the growth when they are active.
And this is why plants are slower to grow in winter.
Warm temperatures accelerate dark reversion.
This is where I started to get lost.
So phytochromes rapidly reach an inactive state.
Oh my God.
Allowing genes to be expressed and plant growth to resume.
You know they still.
They're saying the same thing, but they.
I think the difficulty is it looks like they're saying something new, but they're not.
They keep saying when these molecules are inactive, not working, that's when the plant can grow.
So we're nearly finished, don't worry.
Paragraph G. Some plants use day length as an indicator of the season.
Other species, such as daffodils, the national symbol of my country Wales, have considerable temperature sensitivity.
And they can flower months in advance during a warm winter.
So if you've seen daffodils in maybe January or February, it's because they are sensitive, very sensitive to day length.
According to this,
And then it mentions a kind of old, well-known rhyme term. that used to predict the coming season.
It said, oak before ash will have a splash, meaning if the oak tree flowers before the ash tree will have a splash, it will rain.
But if the ash comes before the oak, We're in for a soak.
We'll have a strong rain.
I don't know.
I've never heard that rhyme, but it's in the questions later.
So I have to show it to you.
This scientist explains the science behind this.
Oak trees rely much more on temperature, whereas ash trees rely more on day length.
And that science explains the saying.
I'm not going to go into that.
It's no point.
But it does come up later in the questions.
Finally, paragraph 8.
The new findings are the culmination of 12 years of research involving scientists from Germany, Argentina and the US, as well as the Cambridge team.
Now, this is important.
The work was done in a model system using a mustard plant called Arabidopsis.
Now that's in italics so that will help us find an answer later.
And that's about it.
That's it.
I won't explain any more.
It's very complicated so let's move on to look at the questions.
Now the first set of questions is true false not given and 27 said maybe you could try to guess this from what you know already of the tips I give you about true false not given the Cambridge scientists discovery of the thermometer molecule caused surprise among other scientists well to be honest there's no mention of other scientists apart from maybe at the end but it doesn't mention any emotion there's no mention of surprise and you know we tend to say in these academic texts they there won't be emotional responses Usually.
So I would guess 27 is not given.
I'm just going to double check.
Yes, it is not given.
28.
Now you can get this answer right now.
The target for agricultural production by 2050 could be missed.
So you jump to that paragraph D where you can easily find 2050.
And do we think that the target could be missed?
So we have a target.
Yields need to double.
But climate change is a threat, a major threat to achieving this.
So yes, this target could certainly be be missed.
28 is true.
Another little tip is if you've got any kind of hedging like this, it could be missed.
It's very likely to be true, because it's careful, and careful language is what we need in like writing task two this, this language of hedging.
I have a whole blog on it.
29.
Wheat and rice suffer from a rise in temperatures.
Now, I think you could probably guess that, but go to the text.
And what does it say about wheat and rice?
It's exactly next to 2050.
It says they are sensitive to high temperatures.
Thermal stress reduces crop yields.
So, yes, key crops such as wheat and rice are sensitive to high temperatures.
And so 29, yes, they suffer from a rise in temperatures.
30.
It may be possible to develop crops that require...
Less water.
Now we've talked about crops which are resilient to thermal stress and climate change, but there's no mention of water.
So you might think.
Well, you might guess.
Yes, in other contexts it may be possible, but it's certainly not mentioned here.
There is no mention of water, so that one 30 is not given 31.
Plants grow faster in sunlight than in shade.
Now, normally I say that comparisons are dangerous in true false, not given questions.
They are usually not given because there's no comparison in the text.
However, in this text there is a very clear comparison um and it's it's.
Again, they say it in different ways throughout, to be honest, So I'm just going to find exactly the one that we could use here.
In paragraph E it says during the day sunlight activates the molecules slowing down growth.
If a plant finds itself in shade, phytochromes are quickly inactivated, enabling it grow faster to find sunlight again.
So that thing about plants grow faster in sunlight than in shade, you might guess.
Yes, as we talked about before, this was the confusing part of this text.
But the answer is false, because sunlight slows down growth.
So I don't like that one.
OK, let's just lose that point.
Last one, 32.
Phytochromes change their state at the same speed.
So we've kind of got another comparison here, but it's related to this idea we just saw about changes at day and at night.
So Do they change their state at the same speed day at night?
Well, no, because remember at night in paragraph E, it's a different story.
Instead of rapid deactivation, the molecules gradually change, gradually change.
So the pace is different at night, night and during the day.
So 32 is also false.
Now yeah, we've got two false, two true two not given.
That's nice and neat, but those last two honestly, i i don't know how to explain those, even to myself.
I had to read it over and over again.
So i'm sorry.
I hope you find it easier than I did.
Let's go on to an easier bit now and this is matching information.
I think this is much easier.
So first of all, we need mention of specialists who can make use of these research findings.
Now, in an academic text the, the uses of the findings usually come at the end, so they kind of say so what?
What's the point of all of this information?
And this is exactly what you'll find.
It's in paragraph h, and specifically it says um Rapid advances now mean that scientists are able to identify blah blah, blah.
Cambridge is uniquely well positioned to do this kind of research, and this can help us transfer this knowledge into the field.
So it's all there in paragraph H.
34, a reference to a potential benefit.
Again.
I mean they mentioned it a few times, but it's in paragraph D where it announces the benefit.
Discovering the molecules has the potential to accelerate the breeding of crops resilient to thermal stress and climate change.
So it's kind of after the introduction, when they explained the science behind it, they then said how they can apply it.
35 scientific support for a traditional saying.
Well, all you need to do is find the traditional saying.
This thing about the oak and the ash the synonym is a well-known rhyme is a traditional saying and it's in paragraph g.
36, a reference to people traditionally making plans based on plant behaviour.
So it comes back again to those farmers and gardeners that used to predict the weather from the flowers and the trees.
That was in paragraph C.
37.
Last one, reference to where the research has been reported, and you just need to find the name of a journal.
It's in paragraph a, the new findings, synonym for research published in the journal science, and that's easy to find because of the italics.
The last three questions are gap words and I think you could guess them 38.
Daffodils, the yellow flowers.
Daffodils are likely to flower early in response to something weather, so kind of adjective to describe the weather.
We could guess probably warm weather, and that is the correct answer.
It's in paragraph G.
They can flower months in advance during a warm winter.
You are allowed two words.
So if you put warm winter weather, that's actually OK.
But warm is the correct meaning and that's also OK.
Now, remember this ash trees and oak trees.
If ash trees come into leaf before oak trees, the weather in something will probably be wet.
Now, in, we're looking for a place or a season and this is talking generally.
So, we're looking for a season and it says a colder summer is likely to be a rain soap.
One.
So the answer is summer.
It's the only one.
They don't mention winter or autumn.
Well, they mentioned winter in the previous thing, but anyway, the answer is summer.
And the last one.
The research was carried out using a particular species of.
Now, remember we had those italic.
And it says the work was done using a mustard plant called Arabidopsis.
Arabidopsis is a mustard plant.
So a particular species of and the answer is mustard.
You could write mustard plant or mustard.
Plants plural is OK.
Or you could just write mustard and that would be acceptable.
Correct.
OK, so that was a long and difficult text.
Look, it doesn't matter. if this was difficult.
The main thing is, if you listen to this, you're starting to activate that vocabulary, that way of thinking, that IELTS, how it does stuff.
All of that is being activated in your language brain.
It doesn't matter if you only understood half of it.
That is doing something that will honestly pay dividends later.
I promise.
So please let me know if you've read something or listened to something in IELTS that you found particularly difficult, and I'm very happy to go through it with you in a podcast.
I will try not to wait so long this time.
I'm going to choose an easier one Thank you very much for your patience and thank you for listening.
And I hope we'll chat again soon.
Bye for now.
Bye bye.
