Choose the item (A, B, C or D) that best completes the unfinished statement about the passage.
There are desert plants which survive the dry season in the form of inactive seeds. There are also desert insects
which survive as inactive larvae or pupae. In addition, difficult as it is to believe, there are desert fish which can survive
through years of drought in the form of inactive eggs. These are shrimps that live in the Mojave Desert, an intensely dry
region in the southwest of the United States where shade temperatures of over 50 degrees Centigrade are often recorded.
The eggs are the size and have the appearance of grains of sand. When sufficient spring rain falls to form a lake,
once every two to five years, these eggs hatch. Then the water soon swarms with millions of tiny shrimps about a
millimeter long which feed on microscopic plant and animal organisms which grow in the temporary desert lake. Within a
week, the shrimps grow from their original 1 millimeter to a length of about 1.5 centimeters.
Throughout the time that shrimps are rapidly maturing, the water in the lake equally rapidly evaporates. Therefore,
it is a race against time. By the twelfth day, when they are about three centimeters long, hundreds of tiny eggs form on
the underbodies of the females. Usually, by this time, all that remains of the lake is a large, muddy patch of wet soil. On the
13th day and the next, during the final hours of their brief lives, the females lay their eggs in the mud. Then, having ensured
that their species will survive, the shrimps die as the last of the water evaporates.
If sufficient rain falls the following year to form another lake, the eggs hatch, and once again the cycle of growth,
adulthood, egg-laying, a death is rapidly passed through. If there is insufficient rain falls to form a lake, the eggs lie
dormant for a year, or even longer if necessary. Occasionally, perhaps twice in a hundred year, sufficient rain falls to form
a deep lake that lasts a month or more. In this case, the species passes through two cycles of growth, egg-laying and
death. Thus the species multiplies considerably, which further ensures its survival.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. The effects of drought in the desert B. The lifespan of fish eggs in desert condition
C. The survival of insects in a desert climate D. The importance of deep lakes in the desert.
2. The word ‘form’ is closest in meaning to
A. style B. shape C. nature D. design
3. From the passage, it can be inferred that the Mojave Desert is unusual because
A. it is hot even in the shade. B. rain rarely falls there.
C. it shelters inactive life. D. very little survives there.
4. The author compares inactive eggs to
A. shrimps B. sand C. larvae D. seeds
5. The word ‘These’ refers to
A. plants B. eggs C. insects D. fish
6. According to the passage, the eggs originate
A. in the sand B. on the female C. in the mud D. in the lake
7. The word ‘swarms’ could be best replaced by
A. abounds B. grows C. crowds D. supports
9. The word ‘dormant’ is closest in meaning to
A. dead B. asleep C. passive D. empty
10. What does the author mean by the phrase ‘a race against time’?
A. The shrimps are in intense competition to reproduce. B.The shrimps must reproduce before the water recedes.
C. The shrimps do not have enough time to reproduce. D. Death occurs before the shrimps can reproduce.