Ielts Peter May Reading

IELTSDATA READING PASSAGE 122-DOGS – A LOVE STORY.
DOGS – A LOVE STORY.
A. Genetic studies show that dogs evolved from wolves and remain as similar to the creatures from
which they came as humans with different physical characteristics are to each Other, which is to say not
much different at all. ‘Even in the most changeable mitochondrial DNA markers — DNA handed down on
the mother’s side — dogs and wolves differ by not much more than one percent,’ says Robert Wayne, a
geneticist at the University of California at Los Angeles.
B. Wolf-like species go back one to two million years, says Wayne, whose genetic work suggests dogs of
some sort began breaking away about 100,000 years ago. Wolf and early human fossils have been found
close together from as far back as 400,000 years ago, but dog and human fossils date back only about
14,000 years, all of which puts wolves and/or dogs in the company of man or his progenitors before the
development of farming and permanent human settlements, at a time when both species survived on
what they could scratch out hunting or scavenging.
C. Why would these competitors cooperate? The answer probably lies in the similar social structure and
size of wolf packs and early human clans, the compatibility of their hunting objectives and range, and the
willingness of humans to accept into camp the most Suppliant wolves, the young or less threatening
ones.
D. Certain wolves or proto-dogs may have worked their way close to the fire ring after smelling
something good to eat, then into early human gatherings by proving helpful or unthreatening. As
wandering packs of twenty-five or thirty wolves and clans of like numbered nomadic humans roamed
the landscape in tandem, hunting big game, the animals hung around campsites scavenging leftovers,
and the humans might have used the wolves’ superior scenting ability and speed to locate and track
prospective kills. At night, wolves with their keen senses could warn humans of danger approaching.
E. Times might not have been as hard back then as is commonly thought. In many instances food would
have been plentiful, predators few, and the boundaries between humans and wildlife porous. Through
those pores slipped smaller or less threatening wolves, which from living in packs where alpha bosses
reigned would know the tricks of subservience and could adapt to humans in charge. Puppies, in
particular, would be hard to resist, as they are today. This was a union born and a process of
domestication began.
F. Over the millennia, admission of certain wolves and proto-dogs into human camps and exclusion of
larger, more threatening ones led to the development of people-friendly breeds distinguishable from
wolves by size, shape, coat, ears, and markings. Dogs were generally smaller than wolves, their snouts
proportionally reduced. They would assist in the hunt, clean up camp by eating garbage, warn of danger,
keep humans warm, and serve as food. Native Americans among others ate puppies, and in some
societies, it remains accepted practice.
G. By the fourth millennium BC Egyptian rock and pottery drawings show dogs being put to work by men.
Then, as now, the relationship was not without drawbacks. Feral dogs roamed city streets, stealing food
from people returning from the market. Despite their penchant for misbehavior, and sometimes because
of it, dogs keep turning up at all the important junctures in human history.
H. In ancient Greece, 350 years before Christ, Aristotle described three types of domesticated dogs,
including speedy Laconians used by the rich to chase and kill rabbits and deer. Three hundred years later,
Roman warriors trained large dogs for battle. The brutes could knock an armed man from his horse and
dismember him.
I. In seventeenth-century England, dogs still worked, pulling carts, sleds, and plows, herding livestock, or
working as turn-spits, powering wheels that turned beef and venison over open fires. But working dogs
were not much loved and were usually hanged or drowned when they got old. ‘Unnecessary’ dogs
meanwhile gained status among English royalty. King James I was said to love his dogs more than his
subjects. Charles II was famous for playing with his dog at the Council table, and his brother lames had
dogs at sea in 1682 when his ship was caught in a storm. As sailors drowned, he allegedly cried out, ‘Save
the dogs and Colonel Churchill?
J. By the late nineteenth century the passion for breeding led to the creation of private registries to
protect prized bloodlines. The Kennel Club was formed in England in 1873, and eleven years later the
American Kennel Club (AKC) was formed across the Atlantic. ‘today the AKC registers 150 breeds, the
Kennel Club lists 196, and the Europe—based Fédération Cynologique Internationale recognizes many
more. Dog shows sprouted in the mid- 1800s when unnecessary dogs began vastly to outnumber
working ones, as they do to this day. Unless that is, you count companionship as a job.
Questions of DOGS – A LOVE STORY.
Questions 1-4
Reading Passage has ten paragraphs labeled A-I. Write the correct letters A-I in boxes 1-4 on your answer
sheet.
1. Which paragraph explains how dogs became different in appearance from wolves?
2. Which paragraph describes the classification of dogs into many different types?
3. Which paragraph states the basic similarity between wolves and dogs?
4. Which paragraph gives examples of greater human concern for animals than for people?
Questions 5-8.
Which FOUR of the following statements are made in the text? Choose FOUR letters from A—H and write
them in boxes 5-8 on your answer sheet.
A. In a typical camp, there were many more wolves than humans.
B. Neither the wolves nor the humans lived in one place for long.
C. Some wolves learned to obey human leaders,
D. Humans chose the most dangerous wolves to help them hunt.
E. There was very little for early humans to eat.
F. Wolves got food from early humans.
G. Wolves started living with humans when agriculture began.
H. Early humans especially liked very young wolves.
Questions 9-13
From the information in the text, indicate who used dogs in the ways listed below. Write the correct
letters A—F in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.
A. the Greeks
B. the French
C. the Egyptians
D. the Romans
E. the English
F. the Native Americans

9. in war
10. as a source of energy
11. as food
12. to hunt other animals
13. to work with farm animals

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IELTSDATA READING PASSAGE 122-DOGS – A LOVE STORY.

DOGS – A LOVE STORY.

Questions of DOGS – A LOVE STORY.

A. In a typical camp, there were many more wolves than humans.

C. Some wolves learned to obey human leaders,

D. Humans chose the most dangerous wolves to help them hunt.

E. There was very little for early humans to eat.

F. Wolves got food from early humans.

G. Wolves started living with humans when agriculture began.

H. Early humans especially liked very young wolves.

F. the Native Americans

10. as a source of energy

12. to hunt other animals

13. to work with farm animals

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