Hi there, this is Fiona from IELTS with Fiona and the Members' Academy.
Greenland has been in the news recently for political reasons, but today we're going to focus on something far more interesting.
It's wildlife.
In recent lessons and podcasts, we looked at longevity in ants and tardigrades and how studying them may help scientists understand ageing and survival.
This reading shows us how research on polar bears could help us better understand heart disease and bone health.
Pay attention to how the writer links animal adaptation to human medical breakthroughs, as this kind of argument structure often appears in Eyal's academic reading.
There's a similar reading that I've done a podcast for, and that's called Climate Change and the Inuit.
So that talks about how climate change affects the Inuit.
And there's also related to Greenland, a listening called The Impact of Digital Technology on the Icelandic Language.
That's in my listening course.
And I've just added the tardigrade listening to that as well.
So you can see how it's all connected.
And I choose these because they really illustrate key topics and key language.
We'll come back to the vocabulary at the end.
So a quick summary of this text.
It's about polar bears and it explains how they are uniquely adapted to extreme arctic conditions.
They have genetic traits that may help scientists understand heart disease and osteoporosis, so that's the medical term for weak bones in humans.
Research in this text suggests that polar bears are intelligent and emotionally complex animals.
Protecting polar bears is important not only for medical research, but also to preserve a remarkable species which is threatened by climate change.
So the title is why we need to protect polar bears, And I do like the first line, because everything helps us with other skills.
The first line, I think, is a really good example for writing task two.
It says polar bears are being increasingly threatened by the effects of climate change.
I like that illustration the present simple continuous, because it's happening now and increasingly meaning more and more.
It's a really great way to start your task, to essay, if you're referring to the current situation regarding whatever the topic is.
So there are two sets of questions true false, not given, and gap.
It's academic part one, so it's also useful for general training.
If you're following me on Instagram or Facebook, you'll see that I've been dealing with true false, not given questions separately and giving you a quick tip on each one.
So you can just learn little by little by just doing one true, false, not given question a day.
And I try to extract some useful language as well from each tip.
The first tip was this one, and it's all about guessing, using your common sense and your general background knowledge to help you guess before you look for evidence in the text, so you can guess this one without looking.
I'm sure it says polar bears suffer from various health problems due to the buildup of fat under their skin.
Now let's think about this for a minute.
Do you think that polar bears, who are designed to live in cold places, do you think they suffer from health problems because they've got too much fat?
Well, I would guess that the fat is there to keep them warm.
And if you go to paragraph one, it says they have up to 11 centimetres of fat underneath their skin.
Humans with comparative levels of adipose tissue don't worry about that word, we know now it's fat would be considered obese and would be likely to suffer from diabetes and heart disease.
So there are your health problems obesity really useful word diabetes, heart disease.
But who gets these problems?
Is it humans or polar bears?
And it says the polar bear experiences no such consequences.
So remember the question was that polar bears have health problems due to this fat?
The answer is false, because The polar bear experiences no such consequences.
Now again on Instagram, I pointed out the fact that these little words, like such these reference words, are very often used in reading and listening.
So such refers back to the previous sentence, the problems of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
So you need to recognise it and understand its purpose.
And of course, it's to avoid repetition when you're writing so you can use it in writing.
In reading, it often refers back to the answer in the previous sentence.
I'll show you another example of that later.
So that was question number one.
Question number two.
The study done by Liu and his colleagues compared different groups of polar bears.
Well, you can't guess this.
You have to go and find that capital letter Liu.
And it's in paragraph two.
A 2014 study by Xi Ping Liu and colleagues compared the genetic structure of polar bears with that of brown bears.
So did they compare different groups of polar bears?
No, they compared polar bears with brown bears.
So again, number two is false.
But just let me show you again, it's a reference word.
And I gave you the short version.
The long version is here.
They compared the genetic structure of polar bears with that of their closest relatives, the brown bears.
So we've got that reference word again, that of.
The purpose is to avoid repetition.
So they don't repeat.
They compared the genetic structure of polar bears with the genetic structure of brown bears.
That would be repetition.
So you replace genetic structure with that of.
And it's another example of a reference word that will help you find the answer, but is also good for writing.
Now, the next one is interesting.
Liu and colleagues were the first researchers to compare polar bears and brown bears.
Now, in the last podcast, I think about ants, there was this very similar true false, not given, asking you if the researcher was the first researcher.
And in that case, she was.
She said this has never been done before.
But the first often is a red flag.
It's an extreme word.
So you really have to look for evidence that nobody had done this before.
And in the text, there's just no evidence of that.
It doesn't say if they were the first or the last or anything.
So it's simply not given.
Number four, polar bears are able to control their levels of bad cholesterol by genetic means.
You might have a guess here.
Do you think that because polar bears are not affected by having lots of fat, how can that be?
Well, if you look in paragraph three, Liu and his colleagues found that polar bears had a gene known as APOB, which reduces levels of low density lipoproteins LDLs, a form of bad cholesterol.
So there seems to be a lot of unknown vocabulary there, technical vocabulary, APOB, LDL.
But again, just ignore it.
They're not testing your medical knowledge.
They just want you to use your reading skills to ignore things you don't need.
So, yes, polar bears had a gene which reduces levels of bad. cholesterol.
The punctuation helps you there.
I talked about that in the last podcast.
There's a dash which explains what LDLs are, and again, these inverted commas.
Bad is in inverted commas and that helps you find it and recognise it very quickly and easily.
I think you could guess number five.
Female polar bears are able to survive for about six months without food.
I just feel that the way it's written is kind of leading to a true answer.
It's not extreme.
It's saying for about six months.
I'm guessing because it's cold and they can't hunt.
That's true.
So in paragraph three, it says, Female polar bears undergo extreme conditions during pregnancy.
When autumn comes, they dig maternity dens in the snow and stay there through the winter, before and after the birth of their cubs.
This process results in about six months of fasting.
So i guess you need to know the word fasting, but think of breakfast.
So fasting you know this if you do it yourself is when you don't eat.
Six months of fasting yes, they survive, of course.
So the answer is true.
Let's look at six.
It was found that the bones of female polar bears were very weak when they came out of their dens in spring.
So remember, six months, no food, sleeping, raising cubs.
What do you think might happen?
In paragraph three it says six months of fasting, where the female bears have to keep themselves and their cubs alive, depleting their own calcium and calorie reserves.
Depleting means the calcium important for bones is reduced.
Despite this, their bones remain strong and dense.
So useful linking word there.
Despite this, they lose calcium, they don't eat, but their bones remain strong and dense.
So this answer, number six, is false.
Their bones are not weak when they come out.
And again, that's kind of the purpose of the text.
What can we learn from them?
Number seven, the last true, false, not given.
The polar bear's mechanism for increasing bone density could also be used by people one day.
Well, I think we kind of mentioned that and it's one that you could guess.
Is there evidence in the text?
Paragraph four.
If the mechanism of bone remodeling in polar bears can be understood, many bedridden humans and even astronauts could potentially benefit.
So don't worry about bedridden means you can't get out of bed.
But the key message here is humans could potentially benefit.
Yes.
So the answer is true.
I did put a little note on my Instagram about this.
Notice it's a conditional sentence and it's a good example of what I call a so what sentence, and if you've done my writing course, you'll understand this better.
It's the idea of putting a final sentence after your points which tells the reader why your points are important.
And that's exactly what this does.
It says, look, if we can understand them better, then we can benefit from them.
There's another one later, right at the end.
There's a final thought, another conditional sentence and another structure I recommend you use in your writing.
Task two
Let's look at the gap fill questions now.
Questions 8 to 13.
You're allowed one word only.
And the title is reasons why polar bears should be protected.
So this refers mostly to the second half of the text.
Make a few guesses.
People think of bears as unintelligent and something.
So what's your first thought when you think about a bear, even a brown bear or polar bear?
If you saw one, how would you feel?
I think I would be a little scared.
And why?
Well, according to the text, it says We tend to want to protect animals we think are intelligent and possess emotions, such as elephants and primates.
Bears, on the other hand, seem to be perceived as stupid and in many cases violent.
So remember the question was people think of bears as unintelligent.
That's synonym for stupid.
And the other word was violent.
That's the answer.
However, this may not be correct.
For example in Tenoji Zoo, so look for the capital letters.
A bear has been seen using a branch as something.
So we've seen this so many times in IELTS text.
There's one about crows, how they use this special leaf as something.
I'll read it for you, but I'm sure you can guess.
A male bear in Tennoji Zoo Osaka, has been observed making use of a tool and that's the answer a tool to manipulate his environment.
The bear used a tree branch on multiple occasions to dislodge a piece of meat hung out of his reach so he used this branch as a tool and that's the answer it also goes into the next gap fill number 10 this allowed him to knock down some you just heard it can you remember it and the answer is meet m-e-a-t number 11
A wild bear worked out a method of reaching a platform where something was located.
So you're looking for a platform.
What was on the platform?
It says, a male bear involved running and jumping onto barrels in an attempt to get to a photographer standing on a platform four metres high.
So that is the answer.
Photographer, one word that was standing on a platform.
Number 12.
Polar bears have displayed behaviour such as conscious manipulation of objects and activity similar to something.
So you're looking for a kind of comparison.
Very often there is a very direct comparison when they say similar to.
There isn't here, but let's listen.
Alice and Amos observed bears putting objects in piles and then knocking them over in what appeared to be a game.
So game is the answer.
It was similar to a game.
There's another kind of comparison here.
Bears may also display emotions.
For example, they may make movements suggesting something if disappointed when hunting.
And in the text it says many bears have been seen to hit out at ice and snow, seemingly out of frustration when they have just missed out on a kill.
So they seem to show frustration and that's the answer.
All of the language they're suggesting seeming appeared similar to is language of kind of comparison and guessing what they were doing.
And they guessed here that frustration was the feeling that they were displaying when they failed to hunt.
So that is academic part one about polar bears.
There's a lot of useful vocabulary here.
The topic, of course, is key.
They are threatened, at risk of harm or extinction.
It's talking about their conservation, the protection of animals and the environment, their extinction, the complete disappearance of a species, and also some useful words on other topics such as obesity, heart disease, bone health, medical research.
All right, I hope you enjoyed that.
Find this and more, all of my tips, all in one place in the Members Academy.
Do let me know if you have any requests or any questions.
Thanks for listening.
Bye bye.
