Intermediate Paragraph Completion Exercise 1

1. Polar bears may be threatened by global warming. Probably due to global warming, Artic ice sheets have shrunk northwards in recent years. Seals, the polar bears favorite food, live and rear their young on the edge of these ice sheets. As their homes move northwards, this takes the seals away from the rich waters where they normally find fish and krill on which to feed. If numbers of seals drop, then ________________________________.

2. A popular belief is that snakes can be charmed into a trance by flute music. In fact, this is completely untrue. Snakes have no ear membranes and are deaf to all but the lowest frequencies. It is not the sound of the charmer’s flute that affects the snake but the swaying movements of the man and pipe and ________________________________ travelling through the ground!

3. People have always searched for explanations about life. Religion is a set of beliefs that tries to explain the aspects of life we do not fully understand. There have been and still are a number of different religions in the world – those whose followers believe in many gods and those whose followers ________________________________. Today, the main religious groups are Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Jews.

4. Some parents say that something is wrong if their baby gets his or her teeth late. But scientists say that late teething is not related to physical or mental growth. Some parents also believe that ________________________________ if they wear shoes. The experts say that this, too, is a myth – babies who go barefoot develop their muscles more rapidly. Parents who want the best for their children should pay attention to the facts instead of blindly following anything.

5. Early in the 20^th century, when scientists were deciding how the human species evolved, they looked at the shape of the human skull and compared it with the fossilized skulls of our distant relatives. They believed it was probable that we evolved from ape-like ancestors and were very much smaller, with ________________________________ than we have today. However, recent research suggests that pre-human apes that walked on two legs had evolved by four million years ago.