The topic is a key IELTS issue – reducing food waste, recycling, pollution and sustainable agriculture.
28-Day Planner Day 11 [Labelling a diagram]
Use these IELTS Reading strategies to help you find the correct answer:
- use your general knowledge to make ‘educated guesses’ (what kind of water is beneath the soil?)
- decide what type of answer the gap needs (a machine? a gas? something in the ground?)
- use word forms and synonyms to help you guess, even if you don’t know the meaning (what do you call a machine that compacts things?)
- highlight all the list words in the text (as I have done below)
- cross off any answers that don’t fit (a machine is not a gas or a tray or water)
8 of the words from this text are in the Top 10 list of key vocabulary about agriculture/farming in the Members Academy.
Knowing these keywords will help you understand what the text/diagram is about and help you make accurate guesses.
Listen to the podcast and explanations here.
Worm farming
The big picture
While it is true that food and garden waste is less destructive than inorganic matter, its disposal is still problematic, especially when buried in vast amounts, as happens in metropolitan areas. Since land is at a premium, landfill facilities almost invariably mechanically compact organic waste, causing acidic reactions in the airless environment below ground. This means methane is released into the atmosphere, and impurities leach into groundwater, which would otherwise be potable.
The farm
Even if householders are unaware of the dangers of landfill, some dispose of food scraps in worm farms, an innovation from the 1990s, because, as well as speedily breaking down material, the animals produce nutrient-rich castings – shed skin and other excreta – that can be used as fertilizer.
For apartment-dwellers, a worm farm 40 cm in diameter and 50 cm in height can sit on a balcony; for people with gardens, a larger farm one metre by one metre is suitable. There are two layers to a worm farm, although as the number of worms grows, more layers can be added. The top layer, a deep plastic tray with tiny holes in the bottom, contains the scraps and the worms. The bottom tray traps the castings, which can be scooped out for use as is or diluted into liquid fertilizer.
Questions 8-11 Label the items below.
Write the correct letter A – F, next to questions 8 – 11
A Castings Tray
B Clean groundwater
C Compactor
D Food-and-worm tray
E Greenhouse gas
F Polluted groundwater
8 C – Compactor
9 E – Greenhouse gas
10 F – Polluted groundwater
11 D – Food-and-worm-tray
Explanations
8. landfill facilities almost invariably mechanically compact organic waste, causing acidic reactions in the airless environment belowground.
Look at the diagram – the tractor is a kind of machine which compacts food waste. So you need to look for a noun like ‘tractor’ = compactor.
9. This means methane is released into the atmosphere,
In the diagram, you are looking for something which goes up into the air. This is a gas. Methane is a gas – so the only answer is greenhouse gas.
10. and impurities leach into groundwater, which would otherwise be potable.
In the diagram, the only thing that is beneath the landfill is groundwater. Is it polluted or clean? Because of the impurities, it is polluted groundwater.
11. There are two layers to a worm farm, although as the number of worms grows, more layers can be added. The top layer, a deep plastic tray with tiny holes in the bottom, contains the scraps and the worms. The bottom tray traps the castings…
scraps = food
- Get more General Training practice here.
- GT Reading Part 1 example (True, False, Not Given)
- Follow my 28-Day IELTS Vocabulary Booster Course in the Members Academy
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