Factual Passage - 19 | English Grammar Advanced - Class 10 PDF Download

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

1. Tourists visiting Singapore can get up close with the major river ecosystems of the world, complete with its flora and fauna. For, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) – which is the holding company. of the famed Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari and the Singapore Zoo – has recreated such an ecosystem. Created on a 12-hectare land, it offers a glimpse of the wildlife, mostly freshwater fauna of some of the iconic rivers of the world. This includes the Ganges and Mississippi, Mekong and Yangtze river, Murray, Congo and the Nile. Also included is a guided cruise along a man-made river to get a peep into the wildlife found in the Amazon region.

2. While 85 percent of the collections are designed to be viewed walking through special enclosures and galleries, each with a theme, the Amazon River Quest boat ride provides a glimpse of the remaining 15 percent. A pair of giant pandas alongside a couple of red pandas housed in the climate-controlled exhibit in the Yangtze River zone is one of the major attractions of the River Safari. The walkthrough exhibits give a glimpse of nearly 400 plant species and over 6,000 animal specimen, representing 200 species, making the river safari the first of its kind in Asia.

3. The river zone of the Ganges is set against the facade of a temple and the wildlife is represented by the gharial and the goonch catfish. Moving on to different river zones, one can catch a glimpse of giant river otters, Chinese giant salamanders (world’s largest amphibian), Mekong giant catfish (world’s largest freshwater fish which measures up to 3 m in length and weighs about 295 kg) among others. The Amazon River Quest which is actually a boat ride meandering through a man-made river, takes the visitors close to the jaguar, giant anteater, Brazilian tapir, capybara, and a few other species that live along the Amazon River.

4. Though the message of conservation underlying the concept is important, the project has also stemmed from WRS’ constant need to innovate to ensure an increase in the tourist footfalls so they can be financially self–sufficient.

Attempt the following questions on the basis of the passage you have read:
(a) One can find major river ecosystems of the world in __________.
(i) Jurong Bird Park
(ii) Night safari
(iii) Singapore zoo
(iv) Wildlife Reserves Singapore

Correct Option is (iv) Wildlife Reserves Singapore

(b) One of the major attractions of the River Safari is
(i) pandas
(ii) tigers
(iii) penguin
(iv) peacocks

Correct Option is (i) pandas

(c) The Amazon River Quest is a boat ride through a man-made river to see the various animals (True/False)

True

(d) Wildlife Reserves Singapore offers a glimpse of the wildlife only. (True/False)

False

(e) A pair of giant pandas is housed in the climate-controlled exhibit in the __________.

Yangtze River zone

(f) The tourists have to go through special enclosures and galleries to see __________.

the wildlife

(g) One of the two–fold objectives of WRS is __________.

conservation of flora and fauna

(h) Find the word from the passage which means the same as “catch sight of/spot”. (para 1).

glimpse.